By KYLE PRATT
Staff Writer
Democrats and Republicans in Congress are locked in a battle over the funding of the controversial healthcare provider, Planned Parenthood, putting the funding of the federal government in question.
The Senate blocked a bill Thursday that would have funded the government through December, due to a provision that would have taken all federal funding out of Planned Parenthood. Congressional Republicans added the provision to the bill an effort to push their anti-abortion agenda. Some have even threatened to not fund the government at all if the provision is not included, potentially leading to another government shutdown.
This movement to defund Planned Parenthood stems from heavily-edited videos created by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), an anti-abortion advocacy group. The videos claim to show members of the Center disguised as potential buyers of fetal tissue haggling prices with Planned Parenthood officials.
The Center claims that its videos are proof that the abortion provider sells fetal tissue for profit. However, as numerous people, groups, and organizations have pointed out, these videos are incredible misleading. Some, such as CNN political commentator Errol Lewis, have gone so far as to say that the CMP’s claim is “flat-out untrue.”
In reality, Planned Parenthood, as required by law, gives mothers of aborted fetuses the option to donate the fetal tissue to medical research. Part of what the CMP claims is true. Planned Parenthood does attempt to receive money as a part of the donation process.
However, unlike what the CMP claims, Planned Parenthood does not seek a profit while donating fetal tissue. The point of the money is to cover the cost of preparing and shipping the tissue specimens.
As a non-profit organization, Planned Parenthood’s goal is to break even when donating tissue so they can use that money to help more of their patients. Contrary to the belief of many anti-abortion advocates, Planned Parenthood does not sell fetal tissue; they receive reimbursement for the money they spend to donate it.
In the transcript of one of the videos made by CMP, provided by the Center itself, the intentions of Planned Parenthood and its affiliates are clearly stated by one of their officials.
“Really their bottom line is, they want to break even,” said the official. “Every penny they save is just a penny they give to another patient.” Statements like this appear throughout the various transcripts of the videos. However, they do not appear in the actual videos. Statements like these were edited out in order to give the idea that Planned Parenthood seeks profit by selling fetal tissue.
Republicans in Congress are threatening to shut down the government due to a hoax. They are using these heavily-edited and biased videos as reasons not only to potentially defund the government, but if they reach their goal, to defund one of the larges providers of healthcare to women in the United States.
While 3 percent of the services Planned Parenthood offers are abortion-related, many of its patients receive more than one service. In reality, Planned Parenthood saw 2.7 million patients in 2013. The number of abortions performed by the organization that same year was 327,653. Meaning 12 percent of the organization’s patients received abortions that year. If any of these patients received more than one abortion, the percentage is even lower.
Yes, 12 percent is significantly larger than 3 percent. However, abortions are still a small minority of what Planned Parenthood does. Not to mention, by law, absolutely no federal money given to the organization goes towards abortion services. The government and the taxpayers are not paying for anything regarding abortions at Planned Parenthood. Yet, still, Republicans want to defund it.
This is a dangerous time in the United States. There is a significant faction of our Congress threatening to shut down and to not fund our government unless the country’s number-one healthcare provider for women, especially poor women, is completely defunded.
Even worse, their reason for doing so is a complete fallacy. They say Planned Parenthood is selling baby parts, which is false. They think Planned Parenthood’s main service is abortion, which is false.
And they think they are not waging a war on women, which, whether it is their intention or not, is false.
