Staff editorial: Planned Parenthood safe (for now)

All of last week, the nation’s attention was on federal budget negotiations going on in our nation’s capital. After passing a temporary extension, Congress had still failed to pass an ongoing budget. As of early Friday evening, it seemed Uncle Sam was indeed going to shut his doors at midnight.

And then, almost out of nowhere, there was a deal. The ongoing talks, held up by policy riders such as the one to cut funding for Planned Parenthood and other health organizations that provide abortions, had finally reached a conclusion.

But make no mistake: The budget was not held up by abortion.

Rather, lawmakers failed to reach a deal earlier due to inaccuracies and closed-mindedness about the mission of Planned Parenthood, which is the largest provider of family planning services in the country.

The fact that our elected officials came so close to striking a likely fatal blow to millions of women’s lifeline to health services should be worrisome to people on all ends of the political spectrum.

Of course, Planned Parenthood is also well-known for offering abortions and other (legal) family planning methods that many on the right (and left, for that matter) find distasteful. If the federal government were in any way directly funding abortions, perhaps this would be a reasonable point of contention.

But the federal grants in question do not fund abortions at Planned Parenthood or any other provider of such services.

An interesting point brought up by ABC News and other media outlets is that relatively few women participated in the budget negotiation process. When a target constituency representing about half of the country is hardly present during such an important debate, how can their views be represented?

That’s not to say that all women are fans of Planned Parenthood and its pro-choice views. But again, the budget debate wasn’t (and isn’t) about abortion — it’s about preserving funding for an important nonprofit that provides a vast array of services to women who may or may not be able to afford them otherwise.

It comes down to choice — not about abortion, but about the budgetary priorities of our federal government. While Congress seems to have reached a deal for now, few doubt that more painful cuts are on their way; this recent battle is, unfortunately, probably indicative of more political arguments to come.

Fortunately, for the time being, funding for women’s heath organizations is intact, but this might change Wednesday when an up-or-down vote will be taken in Congress on Planned Parenthood funding.

Here’s hoping that it goes nowhere.