Defunding Planned Parenthood Analysis

At the end of 2015, the United States Congress voted to defund the medical clinic Planned Parenthood. Defunding Planned Parenthood could have many repercussions that are harmful to more than just women. Planned Parenthood is a health care provider that is available for men, women, and adolescents. The clinic provides many different forms of services that are affordable and accessible, including abortions among others (Planned Parenthood). With Congress passing a bill that would prevent federal funding to the clinic many issues have arisen, especially for people who lack private insurance, and women. Defunding Planned Parenthood could have many negative effects on the health of many Americans, especially women. The bill congress passed would …show more content…
By preventing Planned Parenthood from receiving federal money, it means people with government funded health care cannot use it for the services provided at the clinics. Many people do not know the exact statistics of the services Planned Parenthood provide, and because of that they may have skewed ideas of the clinic. Without federal funding Planned Parenthood patients who use government provided health care would have to pay for all of the services of the clinic out of their own pocket (Bassett). For people with private health care, this would not be an issue, but for others who lack the money to pay for private health care, they may be in trouble. Planned Parenthood has said that two-thirds of their patients are “low-income and have no other primary health care provider” (Bassett). For those people, they may not be able to afford to go to Planned Parenthood if they cannot use government funded health care, like medicaid, to cover part of their …show more content…
In 2014, 50 Planned Parenthood locations closed (Redden). With the locations becoming fewer and fewer, it becomes harder for people to actually make it to the clinics. With so many clinics closing, people are forced to drive further to seek care, putting additional financial strain on them. The distance and the cost may cause patients to forgo care which could be detrimental to their health. Even more controversial, are late-term abortions, which are even more difficult to receive. The documentary After Tiller depicts what life is like for late-term abortion doctors and patients. There are currently only four doctors in the United States who openly provide late-term abortions. There are many strict laws concerning late-term abortion, so there are very few clinics that are available. In the documentary, many patients travel across the country, and some from out of the country. Late-term abortions are generally performed only if the fetus or mother is at risk if the pregnancy is taken to term. In some cases a late-term abortion will be performed if the fetus has abnormalities that will greatly affect their quality of life. For someone with limited money and ability to travel they may not be able to afford these types of abortions, even though it may be necessary to their