On many different occassions I have shared the fact, that while attending Marymount University, a Catholic school, I did my internship at Planned Parenthood. So, for all this talk about abortion abortion abortion, let me share some facts in order to paint a more accurate picture of ALL the critical services that Planned Parenthood provides.
The clinic I worked in did not provide abortion services. On a sliding fee scale, based on income, women and men, of all ages, came to the clinic. Although most were women, men also used the services for STD screening and HIV testing. The women who worked at this clinic were amazing. No one “pushed abortion” what they “pushed” was EDUCATION. Their goal was to empower women and men, to be safe, whether it meant HIV, STD, or pregnancy prevention. The level of service was as professional as any doctor’s office I have seen. Their goal was comprehensive care in a non judgemental environment.
Did you know that the Human Papiloma Virus, an STD, if left untreated can cause cervical cancer? How do you SAVE womens lives, a simple test, one that the clinice I worked in performed ALL the time.
In countries where women cannot get routine Pap tests, cervical cancer is much more common. In fact, cervical cancer is the major cause of cancer deaths in women in any developing countries. These cases are usually diagnosed at a late (invasive) stage, rather than as pre-cancers or early cancers.
Not all American women take advantage of the benefits of Pap test screening. Between 60% and 80% of American women who are diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer have not had a Pap test in the past 5 years. In fact, many of these women have never had a Pap test. In particular, elderly, African-American, and/or low-income women and women who are recent immigrants are less likely to have regular Pap tests.
My experience there was amazing. The people who worked there truly cared about the health of the people that walked through their door. Their goal was to PREVENT unwanted pregancies and STD’s. Their counseling for HIV testing was compassionate and professional. Not one person was given their results over the phone, whether negative or positive, you had to come in and speak with a counselor. Other services included dispensing birth control pills and offering condoms for free!
Cutting funds to Planned Parenthood is detrimental for the health can well being of women and men in this country. On one hand we all recognize that insurance premiums area often out of reach for many people, Planned Parenthood provides a critical service at an affordable rate, they are able to fill a need. Abortion is not what we are talking about when you simply use a broad brush to deny funding to Planned Parenthood, the care this organiation has provided to women and men for decades has been critical.
I am personally disgusted at the level of ignorance to what Planned Parenthood provides, that I am feeling very hopeless at this point. This is not about the budget, this is about an ideology that is attempting to trump the well being of ALL Americans.
editors note: This IS NOT a budget issue. The title X money Planned Parenthood recieves is reimbursement for comprehenisve family planning services. The government will still have 300,000 million dollars in Title X money, it just cannot be used for Planned Parenthood services.
What Is Title X?
Title X (ten) of the Public Service Act is a federal grant program signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1970. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a New York-based reproductive health research center, the law had broad bipartisan support and was the result of increasing concerns that low-income women were not able to get access to family planning services and had higher rates of unwanted pregnancies than more affluent women.
Title X grants, which are administered through state health departments or regional agencies, support family planning programs in 4,500 clinics serving 5 million individuals across the country. The funds, which totaled $317 million last year, are used to provide a range of reproductive health and family planning services primarily to low-income individuals. The program is run by the Department of Health and Human Services and provides funding for contraceptive counseling and supplies, STD testing, breast and cervical cancer screenings, vasectomies, hypertension and blood pressure measurement, prenatal care and sex education.
