Partisanship at its Worst

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In December 2015, President Obama and Congress will decide whether to raise the debt ceiling.  If the debt ceiling is not raised, the United States will not be able to pay for debts already incurred and will be forced to default. This will provoke a serious financial crisis. While such a significant issue must be handled carefully, the conservatives in Congress have suggested that they will exploit the debt ceiling negotiations to try to defund Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood is a non-profit organization that provides healthcare for Americans, particularly women, through its seven hundred centers. The bulk of the organization’s work is dedicated to preventing unintended pregnancies, which is done by providing birth control. They also perform pap tests, breast exams and treat sexually transmitted diseases.^[1] Only three percent of Planned Parenthood’s resources go to abortions, and despite Republican claims, none of these procedures receive federal funding. After controversial videos were released showing Planned Parenthood representatives discussing the sale of body parts of aborted fetuses, the pro-life movement launched a campaign to defund the program.  There was talk of a government shutdown in October, when the Republicans considered making defunding Planned Parenthood part of their budget negotiations. As the debt ceiling negotiations approach in December, the Planned Parenthood issue will likely come up again. Because abortion services provided by Planned Parenthood are not federally funded, the Vendetta is how can the organization provide all health services while facing defunding by congress? 

Abortion remains among the most controversial social issues in the United States.  Recent polls suggest that Americans are nearly equally divided between pro-life and pro-choice, with younger Americans more likely to support the right to life than their parents. ^[2] Before the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade in 1973, abortion was illegal in thirty states. The pro-choice movement gained ground in the 1960s, and it scored a major victory with Roe. In deciding Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruled that a Texas statute forbidding abortion except when necessary to save the life of the mother was unconstitutional. The Court concluded that the abortion issue falls under the right to privacy, which means that the right of a person cannot be encroached upon by the state. Justice Blackmun wrote the Court’s decision, which established abortion’s legality on a trimester scale. Three months of fetal development are referred to as a trimester ^[3] made abortion legal in the first trimester, when a fetus is in its early stages of development and cannot survive outside the womb. However, “as the pregnancy continued, Blackmun wrote, laws could reflect the government’s interest in protecting the fetus, not just the woman’s rights. After the first trimester, the state could regulate abortions, but only in ways that are reasonably related to maternal health.”^[4] Blackmun also established the Point of Fetal Viability at twenty-four weeks, meaning that a fetus at this stage time has a fifty-fifty chance of surviving. With few exceptions, including if the life of the mother is threatened, it is illegal to have an abortion in this third trimester. Over eighty percent of the American people, including a majority of women, oppose abortions in the third trimester. ^[5] In 2003, President George W Bush signed a bill into law that outlawed third trimester, so called, partial-birth abortions, with the exception of when the life of the mother was at risk. In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that this law did not conflict with previous rulings.

Planned Parenthood has received federal funding since the Nixon Administration.  However, that funding cannot be used to perform abortions. The Hyde Amendment, passed in 1976, barred federal funds from being used for abortions except in the cases of rape, incest, or if the life of the mother is endangered. The debate about whether the Affordable Care Act, and the subsequent Medicaid expansion would fund abortions was settled when President Obama signed an executive order upholding the Hyde Amendment.^[6] As a result, it is illegal for Planned Parenthood to use federal funds to perform abortions. Furthermore, every independent, objective investigation has suggested that the Center for Medical Progress’ videos, in which actors ask Planned Parenthood officials about purchasing tissue from aborted fetuses, have been edited and doctored. They will not hold up in a legal investigation. ^[7] Unable to the overturn Roe v. Wade with a constitutional argument, the pro-life movement has substituted targeting an organization that provides women’s health services and some abortions services though not federally funded. Using budget and debt ceiling negotiations to defund a non-profit, on false pretense, is partisanship at its worst.  Furthermore, it is estimated Planned Parenthood prevents over half a million unwanted pregnancies every year by distributing birth control.

Defunding Planned Parenthood will likely increase unwanted pregnancies by making contraception more difficult to obtain and may increase the number of women seeking legal abortions.  For these reasons, anyone who opposes abortion should not wish to defund Planned Parenthood.

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