***UPDATE — APRIL 14, 2017***
As referenced in this New York Times article, Trump Signs Law Taking Aim at Planned Parenthood Funding, President Trump “signed legislation on Thursday [April 13] aimed at cutting off federal funding to Planned Parenthood.”
***END OF UPDATE, NOT THE END OF MY ADVOCACY”***
Here is my original April 2, 2017 post:
I have received services from Planned Parenthood precisely once, but that one visit places me among the “one in five” women in America who have visited Planned Parenthood at least once. As I alluded to in this post when I disclosed my experience of being tested for HIV, I tended in my early 20s to be fanatically cautious. Just like my it was probably scientifically impossible for the activities I was engaging in to expose me to HIV, neither did I technically need the diaphragm I was fitted for at Planned Parenthood.
Fast forward to 2017. At 52, I am a member of a demographic that does technically need services such as testing and treatment for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Opponents of Planned Parenthood try to paint a picture of an organization which zealously lures women into having abortions (fact: abortions account for less than five percent of Planned Parenthood’s services). These opponents support the rollback of Title X program funding, which in turn allows states to withhold certain funds to women’s health clinics.
We all need to understand the difference Planned Parenthood actually makes.
Middle-Aged and Elderly People Need STD Testing and Treatment
According to the CDC, nearly 1 in 4 persons living with HIV/AIDS in the United States is 50 or older.
Our issues around STDs are not limited to HIV risk, however, and they incorporate our emotions as well as our bodies.
Medscape breaks down the psychosocial factors behind our new middle-aged realities:
- Divorce rates are increasing; in addition, the rate of people who remain unmarried is rising.
- Midlife “repartnering” is increasing
- As we stay healthier longer, our potential for engagement in sexual activity increases.
Medscape also lists the possibility, even though the research base is more shallow, that middle-aged women place a higher priority on intimacy over sexual health, leaving them more open to risk. In addition, older people may associate sexual risk-taking with their adolescent years and may ignore facts and dangers that they face.
Planned Parenthood Is An Asset for Women’s Health
Although you can learn the basics of the high-quality, affordable health care Planned Parenthood provides to women, men, and young people here, let’s focus for a minute on our middle aged and aging people facing a new sexual behavior reality:
Every year, Planned Parenthood provides more than 4.2 million tests and treatments for sexually transmitted infections, including more than 650,000 HIV tests.
Why Planned Parenthood Needs Our Support
Fifty-four percent of Planned Parenthood health centers are in health professional shortage areas, rural or medically underserved areas. Planned Parenthood health centers provide primary and preventive health care to many who otherwise would have nowhere to turn for care.
In 2014, Planned Parenthood health centers saw 2.5 million patients and provided more than 4 million sexually transmitted tests and treatment, more than 360,000 breast exams, more than 270,000 Pap tests, and birth control for 2 million people. Of Planned Parenthood patients in 2014, 15 percent were Black and 23 percent were Latino.
Although current efforts to defund Planned Parenthood cite Community Health Centers (CHCs) as a viable alternative health care provider for contraceptive and sexual health education needs, CHCs, while doing their own critical work for the health of our fellow Americans, are not equipped to replace Planned Parenthood.
Stepping Back and Taking the Long View
Right now, in April 2017, the dialogue around the future of Planned Parenthood is bookended on one side by supporters who strongly believe there is empirical evidence that blocking patients from accessing care at Planned Parenthood comes at too high a cost.
On the other end, opponents believe sentiments like these expressed by Senator Ted Cruz and Dr. Alveda King: “millions of abortions make Planned Parenthood a business that the federal government does not need to be funding with our tax dollars.”
Without Planned Parenthood, women would be less healthy, especially women in medically underserved areas. Planned Parenthood makes a difference.
That difference is what Katharine Hepburn’s republican mother sought when she helped found the Connecticut Birth Control League in 1920.
That difference is what Republican Barry Goldwater’s wife, Peggy, sought when she helped organize Phoenix’s first family planning clinic in 1937.
That difference is ostensibly what Prescott Bush (George H.W.’s father and George W.’s/Jeb’s grandfather) sought when he served as treasurer of a nationwide Planned Parenthood campaign in 1947.
That difference is possibly what then-Congressman George H.W. Bush sought in a 1968 address to Congress in which he advocated for government support of family planning programs, referring to the “tragedy of unwanted children and of parents whose productivity is impaired by children they never desired.”
That difference is what President Nixon and then-Congressman George H.W. bush sought when they supported Title X upon its introduction (and subsequent passage) in 1970.
That difference is what republican Barry Goldwater intended when he supported upholding Roe vs. Wade in 1983.
“That Difference” Changed Lives
It’s one thing to cite surprising moments in history that demonstrate “that difference” made by Planned Parenthood. It’s yet another to know that, for countless individual, real life flesh and blood women, Planned Parenthood impacted their lives for the better:
People like Bethany, who said, “Their clinics enabled me to maintain my reproductive health, and control over my body at a time when I could never have afforded to have a child.”
People like the woman whose breast lump was diagnosed and treated by Planned Parenthood, who shared, “Thank-you, Planned Parenthood, for understanding that nothing is more important than your health, no matter what your socioeconomic status is.”
(The source for the above two quotes is this Huffington Post article.)
People like Cassandra, who wrote for Grounded Parents that Planned Parenthood’s early diagnosis and treatment of her Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) saved her life. She writes:
When I hear politicians talk about defunding Planned Parenthood what I hear is that they don’t understand the services that Planned Parenthood provides for both men and women. What I hear is that they don’t care if both men and women have access to low-cost reproductive health care.
How You Can Make “That Difference” For Yourself and Others
Please tell your legislator why “that difference” is so much broader than many opponents would have them believe. Call them (it’s easy!) and tell them not to defund care at Planned Parenthood Centers. There are several resources here.
Here are some more resources:
Birth Control Coverage Should Always Be Guaranteed
There’s a Long History of Republicans Supporting Planned Parenthood—Why Is No One Talking About It?
Why I’m a Christian Who (Still) Supports Planned Parenthood
Wife of one, Mom of two, Friend of many. My pronouns are she/her/hers.
Wondrously well said!
Thanks so much, Nancy!
Hi Paula! Really, really good information. I was at a women’s conference here locally just yesterday that repeated and confirmed everything you said here. So important for us to all realize that this is a women’s health issue–that Planned Parenthood serves as a health resource for millions of women who wouldn’t get health services any other way. If government support stops, then ALL health services will be unavailable for so many women AND children. There is so much mis-information about Planned Parenthood…good for you for explaining it so clearly. ~Kathy
Thank you so much, Kathy! The last thing I would want to do is muddy things up — so it’s reassuring to hear that the info here aligned with what you heard at your conference! I think during the research I was most struck by the variety of supporters over the years —– from different political allegiances, etc. We really do all of ourselves a disservice when we pin things into tiny tiny areas of focus. Life is rarely that well defined.
I came here from my own blog where you left your link. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your presentation of the impact of PP in your earlier life, and THANK YOU for shining a light on the needs of later-in-life men and women.
What I respect most, Paula, is that you’ve presented the need and laid out the way for almost everyone to become involved in a way that agrees with their natural style of standing up and making a difference.
Great job, really.
Thanks so much, Susan. What a difficult day given the House’s vote today. We definitely have so much more work to do. Thank you for being so committed.