Politics threaten Planned Parenthood, funding future uncertain

If the Republican primaries have said anything about Americans, it’s how particular we are… If the Republican primaries have said anything about Americans, it’s how particular we are about contraception and even fussier about how we obtain it. With debates about the importance of accessible birth control and the threats to cut federal funding to Planned Parenthood, women and men alike have to wonder how private their bedrooms really are. The social issue is getting more and more heated, and the average Joe the Plumber and Jane the, uh, Contraceptive Consumer are finding their voices.

Republican candidate Mitt Romney has stated in his official values that he believes “through the good heart of America” his presidency would overturn Roe v. Wade. If elected into office, he plans to cut federal funding to Planned Parenthood. In February, Rick Santorum confirmed to CBS reporter Charlie Rose that “[Contraceptives] are not okay because it’s a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are suppose[d] to be.”

Why does accessible birth control, family planning and preventative health care seem to be such a forefront of the Republican primaries? After the 2008 election, which focused almost exclusively on the issue of the economy, it seems like candidates are invading the bedroom and the doctor’s office rather than the White House.

According to political science professor Susan B. Hansen, the focus on the social issue of contraception is a reaction to President Obama’s attempt to require preventive care in all private health care plans. She says that all of the Republican candidates have pledged to repeal “Obamacare” and that, if cut, such preventative services will be left up to private insurance companies. These services refer to things like breast exams and cancer screenings. Even contraceptive measures like birth control and the Nuva Ring medically fall under the umbrella of preventative care.

And where does Planned Parenthood, a federally and state-funded organization that provides preventative health care for men and women, birth control, STI testing and independent abortions, factor in? Seventy four percent of the individuals that Planned Parenthood treats have annual incomes below the poverty line, currently set for a four-person home income of $22,314 or less.  That means that a sizable number of low-income women are receiving their birth control from the federally funded organization.

Three percent of the services that Planned Parenthood provides are abortions. The rest of the organization’s time is spent dealing with preventative issues, such as Pap tests, breast exams and birth control options, as well as STI testing and treatment.

Thirty eight percent of Planned Parenthood patients receive medical assistance like Medicare, 21 percent are considered low-income and pay nothing, 14 percent are uninsured and have a reduced fee, 15 percent come to Planned Parenthood with private insurance and 12 percent  self-pay and are uninsured, according to Rebecca Cavanaugh, vice president of media and public affairs at Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania.

“All [regular] abortions are self-paid,” Cavanaugh said. Planned Parenthood’s abortion services are often jarring to many pro-life tax payers, but the facts about what is and is not federally funded are clear. “Abortions because of rape, incest or life of the mother are federally funded, typically with Medicare, but Planned Parenthood only performs routine procedure, so abortions provided because of threat to the life of the mother are very rare and often turned over to Magee Woman’s Hospital.”

Family planning at Planned Parenthood exists through foundation donations as well as individual donors. There is also state and federal funding for preventative care, meaning Pap tests, breast exams and birth control. Cavanaugh also noted that internal audits are often performed throughout Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania.

Supporters of Planned Parenthood wonder why politicians want to cut the program after deeming it unfit for government spending. “The Hyde Amendment says that any family planning organization that receives Title 10 funding, which is the funding that Planned Parenthood gets, cannot be used for abortion services,” Abby Mundell, president and founding member of the on-campus Planned Parenthood support club said. “So, if you cut the federal funding, it’s not going to cut abortion service. What you are cutting is preventative services.” Voices for Planned Parenthood, known as VOX, is Planned Parenthood’s outreach to college campuses. Pitt’s chapter of VOX is a recognized SGB club.

“College students are not going to stop having sex because birth control isn’t available,” Alyssa Pascarosa, vice-president of VOX, said. She went on to consider the dangers of abortions and birth control methods which aren’t regulated. As a result, VOX is active in writing letters to legislators and participating in projects of awareness to the importance of maintaining government-funded family planning.

For anti-contraceptive protesters, the issue of accessible birth control isn’t strictly driven by religious or political affiliations, or so says retired mother of 11, Sally Brunn. Brunn stands outside Planned Parenthood early on a Friday morning as part of the Forty Days for Life campaign, a pro-life organization that protests abortions by, what they call a “40-day peaceful public witness outside the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic” during the Christian season of Lent.

“It’s not religious at all,” Brunn said in regard to her morning protest. “It’s medical, and it’s freedom for women to know. Women are exploited by abortion and chemical contraception because they both hurt women terribly. It gives you cancer, for instance.”

She goes on to explain that pregnancy causes the breast glands to create milk ducts, claiming that when the pregnancy is stopped, through abortion or the use of oral contraceptives, the ducts mutate and potentially cause breast cancer.

“It has been proven that a first abortion or chemical contraception for any length of time before you have had a child will give you breast cancer if you are exposed to it to begin with,” Brunn said.

That is not necessarily true. The American Cancer Society reports that a woman’s risk for breast cancer increases slightly while taking an oral contraceptive and that risk diminishes when the woman stops taking the contraceptive. The organization also reports that there is no correlation between having an abortion and developing breast cancer.

Still, Brunn and her fellow protesters have stood and will continue to stand outside Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania in hopes that their message is heard. They hold signs with pictures of mothers and children and pass out information about their organization. “It’s wrong to kill a baby at any point in its life because when an egg and a sperm join, that is a living child right there with all the DNA that’s necessary for it to grow up to be a person, an adult person,” Brunn said. Forty Days for Life makes a mission to stop abortion, to close down facilities that provide them and to deter doctors who perform them.

Cavanaugh doesn’t see the attacks on Planned Parenthood or the stream of anti-accessible contraceptive legislation ending anytime soon. While Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania is committed to helping women and men, it cannot exist on its supporters alone.

“If federal funding is cut, we will have to turn patients away,” Cavanaugh said.