Throughout the month of October, people across the country aim to support breast cancer awareness and research by dressing in pink, wearing wristbands that boldly say “Save the boobies” and participating in Susan G. Komen 5Ks. While spreading awareness and funding research are important means to potentially save lives in the future, wearing a pink shirt and running through the streets of Miami can only do so much. These efforts pale in comparison to what women’s health clinics do on a daily basis to help women prevent and detect breast cancer. Ironically, regardless of how many celebrity-endorsed breast cancer campaigns go viral, and regardless of how many breast cancer awareness apparel is sold each year, an organization that significantly contributes to breast cancer prevention by offering affordable breast cancer screenings as well as other significant services is under attack.
Regardless of your stance on abortion or your trust in the questionable credibility of the Planned Parenthood videos released by the anti-abortion organization Center for Medical Progress, defunding Planned Parenthood is not an abortion issue; it’s a women’s health issue. Planned Parenthood is first and foremost a women’s health clinic. According to Planned Parenthood’s medical services data, the organization offers various forms of cancer screenings and prevention services, in addition to STD testing and treatments, contraception, pregnancy tests, prenatal services and so much more.
While it’s impossible to determine exactly how many lives Planned Parenthood saves every year with its services, the amount of lives saved is clearly significantly higher than the amount of abortions performed every year. Just look at the numbers listed in their annual report. Planned Parenthood reported that one in five women will seek healthcare at a Planned Parenthood, be it for annual breast exams or a one-time STD testing. In 2014 alone, Planned Parenthood tested 3,728,111 men and women for STDs and treated 741,197 STDs, treating hundreds of thousands of individuals who were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and curing hundreds of thousands more of other STDs. In regards to cancer prevention, in 2014, Planned Parenthood conducted 492,365 pap smears, 549,804 breast exams, 37,683 colposcopies, 38,535 HPV vaccines and over 3,000 other procedures, helping over a million patients prevent developing cancer and, in the case of diagnosis, catch cancer early enough for successful treatment.
Yes, of course, abortions are conducted in Planned Parenthood, but they only make up a small minority of the services conducted. In 2014, only 325,166 abortions were administered nationwide, making up only 3 percent of total services administered. In comparison to the millions of other services conducted that year, which offered necessary and affordable healthcare to individuals and even saved lives, this percentage is hardly a fair representation of the value and mission of the clinic. If you want to make this debate about abortion, focus on the treatments and services Planned Parenthood does to prevent unwanted pregnancies and, in turn, the amount of abortions prevented. Planned Parenthood commits more to preventing unwanted pregnancies than it does to end them. In 2014, Planned Parenthood reported that it administered 3,724,558 contraceptive services to prevent unwanted pregnancies ― over 10 times as many abortion services performed that same year.
Even then, federal funding does not fund abortion services. In fact, using federal money to fund abortions is illegal. The Hyde Amendment, passed in 1977, outlaws the use of federal taxpayer money to fund abortion services, with the exception of Medicaid, which is only the case when the abortion is “medically necessary,” including cases of rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother, as reported by NPR. In reality, our taxes only fund the millions of other services Planned Parenthood provides that save lives, not end them. The only people that will be hurt by defunding Planned Parenthood are the millions of patients who rely on Planned Parenthood for affordable access to necessary treatments and screenings that they otherwise would not have access to. This will end life-saving practices, not abortions.
The most impactful and direct way to save lives from breast cancer is to support women’s health clinics. There are other ways to advocate against abortion, but this is not the correct way. It would negatively impact more lives than the amount of babies saved. How about instead of punishing men and women who rely on access to the services Planned Parenthood offers, we all fight to keep the government’s hands off of access to women’s health like we fight to keep their hands off of our rights to own a gun or to “pick our own doctor.” I don’t think it could possibly be any more “pro-life” than that.
