Planned Parenthood is a non-profit organization that provides reproductive health services throughout the United States and internationally. On December 4, 2015, the U. S. Senate passed legislation to defund the organization. Many Americans don't want their tax money being used for abortions. However, there's more that lies beneath Planned Parenthood that people should know about before deciding whether it should be defunded or not. For example, the majority of what they do involves STD testing and contraception. Women would be most effected by the change and therefore they should be the most concerned. Hundreds of thousands of women, especially low-income, would be stripped of the right to proper and affordable healthcare. Planned Parenthood funding is a controversial issue because people have to take into account not only their morals and ethics, but also the concept of the right to choose to go through with a pregnancy or not.   

The issue of defunding Planned Parenthood is important to me because I am a woman and if I couldn't afford proper healthcare, Planned Parenthood would be there to help with contraceptive and/or testing needs. I believe the reason why the government defunded Planned Parenthood is because male politicians underestimate the importance of women's healthcare, therefore they don't want to give money towards it. GOP presidential candidate, Jeb Bush, even said "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues" (Hiltzik). The organization has actually saved countless women's lives. It's not only going to hurt low-income women, but it's going to hurt the government by causing it to spend more money not only on unwanted pregnancies and births, but on other health problems such as STDs. I feel that I am qualified to write about the issue because I am knowledgeable on the services Planned Parenthood provides and I've read many different articles regarding the issue. Also, I am very passionate about women have access to affordable healthcare because if it weren't for my parents, chances are, I would probably be uninsured due to the fact that I'm a broke college student.

In William Saletan's article, The GOP Argument for Defunding Planned Parenthood is Incoherent, he talks about how the GOP's arguments cancel each other out. He was present when the president of Planned Parenthood spoke in front of the Republican members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee for five hours. The article consists mostly of how the main reason the GOP has a problem with Planned Parenthood is because many Americans don't want their tax money used for abortions. He then goes on to say that abortions only make up about three percent of Planned Parenthood's work, and more than 80 percent of the money Planned Parenthood gets from the federal government is Medicaid reimbursement. He even states that the complaint about tax money doesn't make sense because federal funds can't be used for abortions unless the pregnancy threatens the woman's life or was caused by rape or incest. Saletan is credible because he is a journalist for Slate, an online current affairs, politics and culture magazine. He is definitely biased towards federal funding for Planned Parenthood in that he shows the inaccuracies of the GOP's arguments. It's obvious that Saletan values logic and women's right to affordable healthcare.

Samantha Lachman's article, Chris Christie's Argument Against Planned Parenthood Falls Flat, talks about how New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was asked to name "one thing that the federal government does now that it should not do at all, that could be cut to balance the budget" (Lachman). Immediately, Christie said federal funding for Planned Parenthood. His claim was, "When you see thousands upon thousands upon thousands of children being murdered in the womb, I can't think of anything bigger than that" (Lachman). He clearly wasn't aware of the Hyde Amendment, which prevents federal funding from going towards most abortions. The funds the health provider receives goes towards Medicaid and Title X services for low-income patients, like testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections. Also, Planned Parenthood only receives $528 million annually, which is a very small sum compared with the kind of cuts needed to balance the budget. Lachman is credible because she is covering the 2016 presidential election, state politics and civil rights issues for the Huffington Post. She is bias towards Planned Parenthood because she talks about how Christie didn't characterize the federal funding that the organization receives accurately. Lachman is frustrated with how the GOP is coming up with lies in order to persuade people. She values logic and truth because she doesn't want people to believe Christie's overly exaggerated comment. 

In Sarah Torre's article, Congress Should End Federal Funding to Planned Parenthood and Redirect It Toward Other Health Care Options, she talks about recent videos that suggest Planned Parenthood affiliates are harvesting and selling the body parts of aborted unborn children. These videos then led to the government defunding Planned Parenthood. She also says that Planned Parenthood has decreased preventive care, while increasing abortions. The issue of women having no form of healthcare is fixed because women have other options available without entanglement in abortion. "There are about 1,200 federally qualified health centers across the country that operate over 9,000 service sites in medically underserved areas, providing family planning services, cancer screenings, and women's health exams" (Torre). Torre is credible because she is a Policy Analyst in the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation. She is bias towards the defunding of Planned Parenthood because the videos that were released were viewed as unethical. The evidence chosen gives her a stronger stance on the issue and suggests she's against abortion. Her Christian values play a huge role in her argument. 

The issue of defunding Planned Parenthood is arguable because people have different morals and beliefs surrounding the topic of abortion and women's healthcare. I disagree with the fact that Planned Parenthood has decreased preventive care and increased abortions. I do agree that Christie's argument fell flat because he was not knowledgeable on what Planned Parenthood actually does. The articles that were for the funding of Planned Parenthood presented the facts in a frustrated but logical way in order for the public to realize the need for Planned Parenthood. The GOP's only tactic in convincing the public that Planned Parenthood doesn't need to be federally funded is by telling lies and exaggerations. It's crucial that the public realizes that. It was difficult to find articles that supported the defunding of Planned Parenthood because they were not credible sources. Most of the sources were from religious sites, and it's difficult to argue with religion. There needs to be a separation of church and state before people decide whether Planned Parenthood should receive federal funding. After all of this research, my support for Planned Parenthood definitely increased. In order to address my issue in 2,500 words, I will have to add more statistics and direct quotes. 

