I am a woman. I work in healthcare. I’m arguably no expert
in either area, but it can certainly be inferred that both of these topics
deeply resonate with me.
This is not your stereotypical conservative “defund planned
parenthood” because of abortions rant.
This is not your stereotypical liberal “a woman has a right to decide
what happens to her body” argument. No,
this my friend is a libertarian’s view of the conundrum.
Planned Parenthood provides low cost health services to
individuals. These services range from preventative screenings, to
contraceptive planning and abortion.
Are these services needed health resources? Absolutely.
This notion that defunding Planned Parenthood is taking away
reproductive rights of women, is not only unfounded, but completely inaccurate.
Under the Affordable Care Act it is
mandated that individuals have health insurance. So why then are the services
of Planned Parenthood needed? Under this
new act, preventative services and contraceptives are covered at no cost to the
consumer.[1] Women’s rights are not being taken away-you
can still receive these services; No one is putting a contraband on OBGYNs.
The cost of birth control, (no I’m not strictly talking
about hormonal pills here, I’m talking about any method or preferably
combination of methods) including abstinence, condoms, pulling out, rhythm
method, pills, patches, implants rings, shots, IUDs, or diaphragms is assuredly
far cheaper, both financially and emotionally than the cost of an abortion.
American medicine is practiced consequently, rather than
preventatively. People make decisions that affect their health: for instance,
not living a healthy, active lifestyle or eating a balanced diet when a known
product of this is PREVENTABLE type 2 diabetes mellitus. No, instead of medicine
focusing on preventing this disease, we enact defensive medicine and instead
give you insulin, then cholesterol meds, then amputate your foot, all because
you could not make a conscious decision to control your life. Reaction rather
than proaction.
In healthcare, if we have a sentinel event, we conduct a
root cause analysis. When the causes of
said event have been determined, we eliminate or restructure them. So if the root cause analysis of needing an
abortion has been determined to be having unprotected sex, why then are we not
eliminating this issue so that the sentinel event does not occur again?
Why is it that in this day and age, we are STILL arguing
about the ethics and morality of abortion? A known and well documented
consequence of choosing to have unprotected sex is pregnancy. You shouldn’t
need an abortion, because you should be preventing the issue.
Another argument by pro Planned Parenthood activists is that
what a women does to her body is her decision and not anyone else’s. TRUE. So if it is your body that you
are electing to put into situations that may result you in needing an abortion,
why is it MY job to pay for it instead of yours?
When a drug addict chooses to continue using illicit drugs
that are wreaking havoc on their bodies and lives, is that their prerogative?
Yes. But when they need recovery services is it my tax dollar’s responsibility
to intervene? No. So why is it that
we’re treating unplanned pregnancy differently?
It all comes down to one crucial ideology that has somehow
infected itself in American society: irresponsibility. In the last few decades
we have slid down a slippery slope into entitlement of rights and abandonment
of responsibility. People are no longer
accepting the consequences for their actions, but finding someone else to blame
and expecting them to pay for them.
Women’s rights are a vital component of the healthcare
equation. We have come a long way since
coat hangers. Roe v. Wade determined that women have a right to an abortion,
however it never mentioned that society should condone or fund this decision.
Planned Parenthood should be defunded by the government. As has been seen by the VA catastrophe, government really has no place in providing health care. If
all the advocates for PP want to start a donation campaign and privately fund
it, by all means go ahead, I think a privately funded business that provides these services is perfectly acceptable. The fact of the matter is, in today’s health system
there is no need for such services since insurance is requisite, preventable
measures are more than achievable and there is no infringement upon women’s
liberties in the closing of this business.
