How Planned Parenthood spends their government funded dollars

Source: stmedia.startribune.com

It’s startling to some to merely give Planned Parenthood’s government funding a thought. “They sell those poor aborted babies!” “They use our tax dollars for slaughter!” Even as sensationalized and scientifically falseas these statements are, there is still a debate on how their government dollars should be spent and how they actually are spent. I agrue that while Planned Parenthood seems to follow the laws on how they can spend their government-funded dollars, there is still some investigation that should be done to ensure they are being totally truthful. In an article by Danielle Kurtzleben from NPR, Planned Parenthood follows the rules as to how they can spend their government-funded dollars legally, but statistics point to a more illicit use in some cases. NPR publishes articles daily on politics, music, culture, etc., and they continue to be reliable as a news source based on their dynamic and online presence.

The articles states that Planned Parenthood received “$5.28 million last year… more than 40 percent of Planned Parenthood’s total $1.3 billion in revenue last year.” An overwhelming amount to critics, which forces them to suggest the company relies too heavily on government funding. A defund would call for the company’s shutdown, with no remorse from politicians.

The programs that fund the money are two public funds: Medicaid and Title X, both of which are targeted towards low-income Americans, who can be seen as the majority of Planned Parenthood’s patients. Most of the federal funding comes from Medicaid -- at 75 percent. Interestingly enough, Title X does not allow federal funds for abortion services, yet Medicaid, still at 75 percent of Planned Parenthood government funds, does allow for government funds to be used on abortion services in what the article calls “very restricted cases.”

In the event that the Republicans win and Planned Parenthood is defunded, they would not have enough funds for their crucial support for women’s health, as abortions only account for three percent of their procedures, according to the article. It’s upsetting to see a politician's religious/moral views of abortion can become so substantial that they will take away other life-saving procedures from women in the name of morale, but more on that later. Anti-Planned Parenthood activists do have some authority though -- if Planned Parenthood does rely to heavily on thier goverment-funding, does that not suggest something less than truthful of their organization?
FUTURE RESEARCH: Why is it that mostly Republicans want a Planned Parenthood defund? What are their arguments against Planned Parenthood?