The Tea Party (and the Tea-Party’esque Republicans) seem to want more abortions… or at least they want to create more unintentional pregnancies, increasing the demand for abortion services.
This same group, however, wants to defund the programs (Planned Parenthood and Title X) that are best equipped to provide education, contraception, and reproductive health services for women who have the highest risk of unintentional pregnancies.
Well over 60% of abortions are performed on women under the age of 30. Roughly half are performed on women with an annual household income less than $30,000. Planned Parenthood and Title X are huge providers of reproductive health services for this demographic, including cancer screenings, pregnancy tests, STD treatments, menopause treatments, tubal ligations, and low-cost contraceptives.
The reason the Tea Party wants to defund these programs, presumably, is because these programs can potentially present information about (and, in the case of Planned Parenthood, perform) abortions. Title X cannot perform abortions or recommend abortions. Roughly 2% to 3% of Planned Parenthood visits involve abortions. That leaves a whopping 100% of Title X services and 97% of Planned Parenthood services dedicated to other reproductive health care services… services that have a direct impact on whether young, low-income women get unintentionally pregnant.
Even setting aside the incendiary issue of whether abortion is a medical procedure or an abomination, defunding Planned Parenthood and Title X is a completely absurd position to take for a group that, to its core, opposes the very existence of the abortion procedure.
The reason it’s absurd? Opposing the programs that provide low-cost contraceptives and sexual health services is effectively promoting increased unintentional pregnancies, thereby increasing the demand for abortion services.
The best way to lower the rate of abortions isn’t to outlaw abortions. That would just make them dangerous. The best way is to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies. That can be accomplished, in part, by providing affordable contraceptives and sexual health education to the women who have the highest risk… which is exactly what Planned Parenthood and Title X do. Defunding these programs is simply a big “thumbs up” for abortions and a big “thumbs down” for women’s health.
…and that would be an abomination.
Dan,
You can believe in all the statistics behind which Planned Parenthood hides, but the bottom line is this:
Federal funding of Planned Parenthood = federal support of MURDER, using tax money confiscated from me and others, who by an overwhelming majority believe this is an abomination.
I cannot in good conscience tell a women what she may or may not do with her body (the libertarian in me) but I sure as hell don’t want my money going to support this deed.
People will be called to account for their deeds. Oh… I forgot: you don’t believe in that…
Wow, Tom. I’m not sure where to begin: with your conspiracy-theory tone, your cavalier dismissal of relevant data, your decidedly theocratic views, your made-up, hyperbolic claims about abortion, or your complete disregard for the point of my post.
Why would you say that Planned Parenthood is “hiding” behind statistics? What is it that you think they are they hiding; that they perform abortions? I think that’s been pretty well established and the general public is probably well aware that it’s one of the services they provide. Perhaps you think they’re secretly using federal money to pay for abortions, even though it’s against the law to do so. I don’t understand the whole “hiding” statement.
As for the funding being “federal support of MURDER,” I just pointed out that federal funds can’t be used to pay for abortions. I suppose you could argue that using federal funds for other health services frees up private money to pay for abortions, but then you would be “moving the goalposts” as it were, since you seem to be claiming that federal money is funding abortions.
As for abortion being “MURDER,” that’s your own religiously-based viewpoint that, thanks to the secular nature of our country’s government and the freedom of religion it provides, you are not allowed to foist onto the rest of us. If you want to argue about facts and science, that’s all well and good, but don’t come to me claiming that your religious beliefs should be the basis for our understanding of reality.
In the category of “made-up, hyperbolic claims,” your statement about the “overwhelming majority” of people claiming that abortion is an “abomination” is clearly and patently false… unless by “others” you mean you and your select group of friends. You weren’t clear on that point. Polls consistently show a fairly even split in opinion about abortion and whether it should be legally available. Actually, there’s a fairly consistent majority saying that it should be legal with some additional restrictions. I apologize that I couldn’t find any polls specifically asking how much of the country considers it an abomination, but based on the other polling data, I could make an educated guess that it’s nowhere near an “overwhelming majority.”
However, I can sympathize with your not wanting your taxes (“confiscated”? Really?) being used to fund abortions (even though they aren’t, as I stated above). There are plenty of things I don’t really want my tax money used for, either. However, given that it’s the way our tax system has worked since the instantiation of taxes, I’ve accepted the reality that I have to take it as a package deal if I want to live in this democracy. There will always be things funded with taxpayer money with which I disagree, but I think the benefits of living here in the USA outweigh that small annoyance.
And no, I don’t believe in any supernatural “calling to account”… thank you for the compliment. I do believe in a daily calling to account, however; to my family, my friends, my co-workers, and to anyone who interacts with me in my daily life… and on a larger scale, to the whole world. Beyond that, no… but that’s a different topic for another time.
In reality, if you and those with similar viewpoints really abhor abortion, you should be virtually throwing money at organizations and programs like Planned Parenthood and Title X. Abortions occur because people unintentionally get pregnant. Contraception, which both programs provide at low cost, is probably the absolute best way to lower the rate of unintended pregnancies, thereby decreasing the demand for abortions. By screaming about the one service that Planned Parenthood provides that you don’t like, you’re screaming against the very program that will decrease the frequency of that which you decry in the first place.
I’m not sure if that’s hypocrisy, irony, or simply the inability to see past the seething anger of your ideology.