“Planned Parenthood is so much more than just abortions, and Republicans hate women because they want to defund it.” – Every college student on my Facebook newsfeed

I have noticed three ways that people try to justify the above statement, so let’s evaluate each of them.

1. Only “three percent of Planned Parenthood’s health services are abortion services.”

If you count a $10 pregnancy test as equal to an abortion (because they are both a “service”), then sure, abortions are only three percent of Planned Parenthood’s health services. However, that does not mean that they don’t still perform almost one-third of the nation’s abortions. On average, Planned Parenthood performs one abortion every 97 seconds. If you want to know more about the frequency of Planned Parenthood’s abortions and how their “three percent” statistic can be misleading, consider watching this video.              

        2. Planned Parenthood is not legally allowed to use taxpayer dollars to fund abortion.

Yes, according to the Hyde Amendment, Planned Parenthood does not technically use federal money to fund abortions. However, it is misleading to think that funding the rest of Planned Parenthood doesn’t enable them to use any of the rest of their money to fund their abortions. Either way, federal money aids Planned Parenthood, and that indirectly aids their abortion services.

        3. Defunding Planned Parenthood will limit women’s access to healthcare.

Actually, Planned Parenthood is not vital for the accessibility of women’s health care (other than abortion). As shown in the picture below, for every one Planned Parenthood location, there are 20 other comprehensive care clinics.

Now, assuming that Planned Parenthood is in fact an abortion clinic and that they are not necessary for the health and wellbeing of women, the only reason to support Planned Parenthood is to support abortion. Since abortion purposely ends the life of a child who is growing in the womb, I will not support it and therefore will not support Planned Parenthood. I am unapologetically a defender of the lives of the pre-born, and I will gladly support defunding Planned Parenthood while also supporting the creation and advancement of women’s health centers that do not perform abortions.