Battles of the bulge

Planned Parenthood is one of the most vilified organizations in the United States because it provides abortion services. \nSince 1977, the extremist opposition to Planned Parenthood has used violent acts to intimidate the organization. The health facilities of the organization have been bombed 40 times. Three hundred twenty-two people have received death threats. One hundred twelve people have been assaulted, and eight people have been murdered. \nThose figures are shocking. However, violent opposition is relatively rare and not nearly as effective at damaging the organization as the Bush administration’s steady withdrawal of financial and political support over the past seven years. \nFrom the highest appointments in the FDA to the elected representation of Indiana, the reigning social ideology is anti-birth control and anti-abortion.\nThe goal of Planned Parenthood is to provide reproductive health services, like routine gynecological exams, testing for STDs, birth control and yes, abortions, for low-income women (and men too). Indiana is a poor state and there are a lot of people who depend on Planned Parenthood for services that would be otherwise unaffordable to them. Every year Planned Parenthood of Indiana serves 104,000 people. \nBut some of Indiana’s elected officials would rather leave this group of thousands – many of whom are uninsured – without options for reproductive health. Last month, Republican Congressman Mike Pence of Indiana’s 8th District opposed a Health and Labor Services Bill (HR 3043) and instead proposed an amendment to cut Title X funding.\nTitle X is the country’s only federal grant program that provides money for family planning services. It gives funds to many Planned Parenthood clinics and health centers at colleges, hospitals and other non-profit health centers. \nTo cut Title X would be to cut services to 4.5 million Americans. Pence probably proposed the amendment on anti-abortion grounds. But Pence and many other people don’t seem to realize that the only good abortion prevention is birth control. Cutting Title X would cause many unintended pregnancies. Fortunately, it failed to pass. \nYet even with some federal funding, Planned Parenthood still struggles to exist. In South Bend, Ind., where I am from, there existed at least four Planned Parenthood clinics four years ago. Today all of them are closed. Though the organization’s Web site is optimistic about its future, the current ideology supporting abstinence only education, anti-abortion dogma and the subversion of women’s health issues into political issues highlights a losing battle. \nSocial conservatives zealously demonize Planned Parenthood for providing birth control – but what are they doing to prevent abortions? Anti-abortion philosophy is often coupled with anti-welfare, anti-education and anti-health care policy. They only care about ‘life’ as long as it is in the womb; once born into an anti-social welfare state, a baby will just have to fend for itself. \nMy only hope is that anti-reproductive health sentiments will subside under a less conservative administration. \nHowever, reproductive health issues need not be a ‘liberal’ issue, but a humanitarian one.