Multimodal Essay - Cassie Wolff

Cassie Wolff

Professor Lutz

ENG 151

20 October 2011

Planned Parenthood Funding

History

            Planned Parenthood has been stirring since 1916 as a birth control clinic in Brooklyn, New York. Indeed Planned Parenthood is a major provider for women’s health care involving breast exams, pap tests, STD testing and even cancer exams. Yet, along with those they also engage in another act known as abortion. Abortion is the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy which has two major sides against or for consisting of pro-life or pro-choice. Planned Parenthood is described as the country’s largest provider of this injustice.

Controversies, as we all have heard and seen have developed over government funding for Planned Parenthood. Half believe in abortion funding that people should have a choice as to whether they carry their child full term. The other half, which includes the point of view I believe in is that abortion kills a human being, and isn’t that what we have been told not to do by the government?

Pro-Life!

            So, this is where the pro-life involvement movement begins. Being pro-life indicates that you are supportive of a child’s life in the womb and believe that abortion is just as much a murder as pulling out a gun or knife to end one’s life. In most eyes of pro-lifers, like me, believe a child’s life begins the moment it is conceived. During the first trimester is when a baby’s heart begins to beat along with all other organ and brain developments. Pain receptors are also beginning to appear during the seventh week of pregnancy. Therefore, the baby has already started living inside of the womb and during an abortion the baby gets their life taken away along with feeling the procedure happen, even in the slightest way.

Women who become pregnant should carry out what they started. A baby should be carried full term whether or not the pregnancy was planned. A baby is just as much a human being as the rest of us who should have a chance to be born and experience what we all get to experience during our lifetimes. We want to prevent these abortions that happen every day which is currently around 126,000. That is nearly 46 million babies’ that do not get the chance to live outside of their caregiver’s womb a year. These brutal procedures can do a lot of scarring to the mother of the child, leaving her and/or the families involved with feelings of guilt mostly triggered by moral or religious values.

Religious values come in to hand with the concern of disobeying one of the Ten Commandments, though shall not kill. Yet, aren’t the actions if getting an abortion deliberately ending a child’s life as said before. The bible expresses multiple times in up to as much as 1200 pages that people should not kill other people.

More than one option

            Just like almost every other decision we humans make, you always are handed more than one option. “Approximately one-half of the 6.4 million pregnancies in 2001 in the United States were unplanned… These three million unplanned pregnancies include 1.3 million that ended in abortions; 1.4 million live births that woman reported were unplanned at time of conception...” (National Campaign 1). Some women who accidentally become pregnant are not fit to become mothers or do not feel as if they are ready to carry on such a dependable responsibility. In this type of situation you can get the chance to put your baby up for adoption. “For 25% to 30% of infertile couples, the reason behind infertility is never found” (Gurevich). Women or couples who cannot get pregnant themselves often depend on adoptions for a hope of having a family.

Another option besides abortion would be a support group that makes the women feel like she has a better view on how to raise her child. Counseling centers are available almost anywhere to help educate you on your unexpected pregnancy such as what you don’t know about pregnancy and even post-pregnancy. Getting online to just do a little research to find woman who have had the same situation as you and what they chose to do besides abortion could help you in your decision making. Women who are pregnant and are too young to be on their own can involve their family or the father’s family to help out whenever needed if capable.

Planned Parenthood Advantages

Planned Parenthood as we all know is not just for abortions of unwanted pregnancies. It is a health care center that helps men and women all over the world to educate them make smart decisions for themselves and others around them. This is an excellent addition to communities’ in the United States for young people who do not want to share their sexual life or questions with their parents. Planned Parenthood has numerous ways educate young people about safe sex and the risks of having unprotected sex, such as unwanted pregnancies. At the clinic they offer all different kinds of birth controls to prevent pregnancies such as abstinence, birth control implants, patches, shots, pills, sponge, vaginal rings, condoms, and withdrawal methods. Planned Parenthood consists of testing for diseases as well as having support groups and pamphlets for anyone interested or curious about anything they have to offer.

Keep Funding for the Advantages

Planned Parenthood is a service that is here to help people regardless their age, race, income, etc. They are here to help those who are in need of being educated on many different topics. Planned Parenthood’s mission is to also ensure that they respect patients’ right to privacy in any case especially if an exam procedure is taken.

If Planned Parenthood is completely cut by funding from the government teenage pregnancies and unwanted pregnancies will grow at an exceptional rate it is believed. This is so because some girls and boys will no longer have the availability they feel comfortable with to learn about safe sex or able to get those birth control ways and condoms if they are sexually active. Most kids are embarrassed or feel uncomfortable just going to a Drug Mart or Walgreens to practice safe sex by purchasing a condom, so getting rid of that advantage some kids use could increase the cases of abortions in which we are trying to stop in the first place.

Another downfall of cutting all funding would be the exams and testing people can get at Planned Parenthood would no longer be offered. These exams make people aware of what is going on with their body and help reduce the spreading of STD’s and other viruses by giving patients the proper cure they need without telling an adult figure if that is the case for some individuals. Planned Parenthood isn’t just for sex related things either; Planned Parenthood also helps with general health care such as cholesterol for example. They have flu vaccinations, helping with the decision to quit smoking, high blood pressure problems and so much more. Believe it or not Planned Parenthood also has help and support available for the people out there with different sexual orientations.

What Should the Government Do?

Planned Parenthood has many more advantages than people see, all the focus goes to the abortion aspect but if Planned Parenthood was cut all of its funding how would teens or other individuals get there help if all they depend on is this service? It is here to help make communities a better place by educating and providing services. Without it could you imagine what it could be like?

Abortion funding needs to be cut; it is an immoral act of killing a human being that did not have the chance to live. As the whole Planned Parenthood funding goes, we would end up being ashamed of ourselves if we dropped it on its feet. So many things could go wrong by ending it completely. Planned Parenthood’s major mission is to provide women health care like testing and exams to protect their body and other people that could end up being infected.