Planned Parenthood Leaves Title X After New Anti-Abortion Laws Implemented
Protestors holding a banner for the questionable assertion that Planned Parenthood sells aborted fetuses for money Source: Breitbart.com
Source for information: https://www.npr.org/2019/08/19/752438119/planned-parenthood-out-of-title-x-over-trump-rule
Following the new changes made to title X under the Trump Administration, Planned parenthood has made the decision to withdraw from receiving funding from the $286 million program rather than comply to the new regulations.
Trump's new change on Title X, which follows multiple statewide abortion bans, means that programs under its funding cannot provide abortion services or counseling, services which Planned Parenthood and similar organizations have historically provided, in addition to STD screenings and contraception. In these new measures, Republicans in congress hope to overturn the 1977 Roe V. Wade decision legalizing abortion across the U.S. Hoping to utilize a newly gained Supreme court majority from the appointment of justice Brett Kauvanagh to do so.
In its withdrawal, Planned Parenthood intends to continue providing reproductive health services to many disadvantaged communities across the U.S. albeit without federal funding.
This decision comes as a result of continuing debates over the right of women to obtain abortions. Opponents argue that a fetus should still receive basic rights, while proponents believe that women have rights to their bodies, and that abortions are vital to preserving their quality of life at times.
1. Do you believe that Planned Parenthood can continue successfully operating and providing services without additional federal funding?
2. In regards to abortions, How can the government address the conflicts between women's rights and an unborn child's rights, if they can be seen as possessing rights?
As federal funding plays a crucial role in allowing Planned Parenthood to keep up with its services, I believe that without it, it will be very difficult to stay up and running. Finding other avenues for financial support is the obvious other decision, but are there enough resources to turn to that will give support? The issue of abortion has been one that has not settled since the times of the Civil Rights and Women's Rights movements and continues to cause a divide in our society. The repeal of federal funding is a win for people leaning on the more conservative side, but I wonder if there is something boiling in the agenda of those who do not support the decision made by the Trump Administration. I believe that women's rights and unborn children's rights go hand and hand, but also on another level they are completely separate. Some believe that an abortion is a women's right due to the fact that it is a woman's body and life and they should be in full control. Another issue that arises is the morality of the situation and those who take a religious stance, arguing that it has nothing to do with gender and the rights of women. At this point I am very unsure about what the government can do to settle the issue of abortion peacefully.
ReplyDeleteI think that both the changes to Title X and Planned Parenthood's exit from federal funding are more symbolic moves than actual practical choices. To begin with, all the anti-abortion legislation recently passed are mainly in order to challenge Roe v. Wade and not necessarily practical. In the same vein, I don't necessarily think that it's strategically smart for Planned Parenthood to back out of federal funding because I'm willing to bet that makes up a lot of their funding in order to provide free services to patients. That being said, they need to make the statement that they are standing their ground and not compromising on the issue of abortion, which is a big part of what they do.
ReplyDeleteThe changes are definitely, like Grace said before more symbolic than actually effective moves. The the ideas that they rejected are more of the reason this is a big move. Planned Parenthood are basically standing their ground, even though the loss of federal funding probably will make them have some budgeting problems. Planned parenthood could possibly find some big donors or other means of funding since although there is much controversy surrounding it, many still use its services and there would definitely be people out there that want to keep it up and running. WHen looking at whether something gets rights or not, I believe that they need to look at whether they want to follow the biological definition of being alive or a more political viewpoint.
ReplyDeletePlanned Parenthood has been an important part of society for decades. People have relied on Planned Parent for various reasons aside from abortion. I believe that federal funding is extremely important for them to maintain giving proper health care. I agree with Morgan that it will be difficult for them without funding since budgeting problems could arise. While they could rely on financial help or funds from other donors or company, Planned Parenthood is still losing a significant amount of money. I think that they will be able to continue providing services but I think it will take a while before they can operate “successfully” without any sort of funding. While Planned Parenthood is an important resource for some people in our country, it is also a controversial organization that has many people protesting for decades and has definitely caused a divide in society. People will always have their own opinions, which makes it difficult for a consensus regarding this organization.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I think Planned Parenthood will have a very difficult time staying alive without Title X funding. Up until now, Planned Parenthood has received around $60 million a year from federal funding, in large part used to provide health care services to low income women; over 1.5 million of them, according to The Cut. Seeing this demographic, I find it highly unlikely supporters could manage to offset this heavy loss in funding with donations. Perhaps some of the more liberal elite could pitch in to help, but the rich don't exactly have a good track record donating unless they can get something like massive tax cuts in return. In regards to the second question, I believe Roe v. Wade has already established the line between women's rights and unborn children's rights, with a healthy amount of both biology and politics mixed into the calculation. Why there exists those who don't believe that to be true is probably a whole other blog post in itself.
ReplyDeleteUndoubtedly, Planned Parenthood has been a program that has been around for about 100 years and continues to remain relevant in today’s society. With that being said, I believe that it could possibly still remain up and running. However, with the loss of the funding from Title X, I don’t think that Planned Parenthood will be able to be as successful as they had been before when their operations were funded with millions of dollars. There is always a possibility that they could receive funds from other sources, but in order to do so it will take plenty of time and effort to reach their levels of success that they had been at before. As of now, Planned Parenthood has been providing thousands of low-income families with the help of the funding from Title X, but now that the program has decided to leave this federal family planning program, a majority of these families will ultimately face further consequences that may arise from the lack of funding. This leads back to the idea that Planned Parenthood will be able to continue operating, but it will not be able to reach it’s same success that it had prior to leaving Title X.
ReplyDeleteI believe that to a certain extent, Planned Parenthood can provide the same types of treatments for their patients. However, this may prove to be very difficult as other avenues for adequate sources for funding can be unstable. For example, since the government is supposed to be a reflection of its people, there might not be enough people who would be willing to donate to support women’s rights and abortion. Therefore, the services that they provide might be significantly limited as well as their general accessibility to the public. Additionally, since abortion is such a hot topic these days, many other organizations or companies might be unwilling to support them, which would have drastic effects on the organization as a whole. Personally, I believe that the government should leave the decision of abortion to the women alone up to a certain time constraint. However, this time frame ultimately depends upon the definition of “alive,” which will always make it difficult for a consensus to be agreed upon.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, planned parenthood has already been hindered by state legislation dubbed the heartbeat bill, criminalizing abortion past six weeks, when a fetal heartbeat is first detected. While planned parenthood has yet to be affected due to the pending case where Planned Parenthood and the ACLU is suing the state over the legislation, if the law's constitutionality is upheld, certain Planned Parenthood facilities will have neither federal nor state funding. This would impair their abilities to provide services, only a minute portion of which is abortion services, and would limit it to private and individual funding. Over 7 states have passed the heartbeat bill or a more restrictive one, and in 6 states the bill has been introduced. With all those state's populations having their right to an abortion be under threat and be questioned is by definition, unconstitutional by Roe v. Wade, and is also shown by the North Dakota heartbeat bill being struck down in a lower court in 2013. Planned Parenthood's services are mostly to provide for those of lower socio-economic status or other reproductive health, only a very small portion of which is abortion services. Right now, Trump is appointing highly-conservative judges to lower courts nation-wide, and legislation from these other Republican state representatives are acting in addition to that all in an attempt to overturn Roe v. Wade. State representatives have stated this themselves, and because of Trump's appointments to lower courts as well as the Supreme Court, this is becoming a scary reality.
ReplyDeleteThis issue is further complicated by the fact that Planned Parenthood will probably receive state funding and donations in liberal states, but not in conservative ones. For this reason, Planned Parenthood will probably be able to continue to operate as normal in liberal states, but have to withdraw completely from conservative states, where their intervention is much more desperately needed.
ReplyDeletePlanned Parenthood plays a vital role in supplementing education for young adults about their reproductive health; a responsibility which school districts in conservative states have largely shirked. In many deeply conservative places, a Planned Parenthood was a small island of progressiveness that will be completely lost.
Although I support Planned Parenthood's decision to withdraw from Title X, they have been forced to give conservative lawmakers even more power over the issue. They can effectively remove all sources of information about reproductive health by choosing to fund or not fund them. By lowering the standards for reproductive health education in conservative states, the issue has become even more divisive. If Trump's goal was to escalate the issue, he has certainly accomplished that.
I find this whole situation disturbing, from the Planned Parenthood website, the purpose of Title X is to provide "affordable birth control and reproductive health care to people with low incomes, who couldn’t otherwise afford health care services on their own." I think that it is tragic that the issue of abortion has now prevented a number of services to women in need. Planned Parenthood made a bold move by refusing funding, their actions prove that their message is valid and their services are for everyone. It's hard to think that the government is taking away services by threatening funding. I really hope that this change doesn't end up lasting long, or prevent Planned Parenthood from being as effective as they have been in the past since they need alternative ways to fund their programs.
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