Part 2- Economic Analysis

Megan Cunningham

Loras College
 The policy that we have chosen is that Planned Parenthood needs to be continued to be

funded by the government in the state of Iowa. Currently there is a bill that is being proposed

that will cut the defunding of Planned Parenthood. That bill is known as HF422 (defund pp).

Planned Parenthood is an organization that provides many services to the public such as birth

control, breast cancer screenings, STD testing and treatment, and education for people about

their bodies. They also provide services to all including men, women and children services

including cholesterol screening, diabetes screening, and regular physicals. They also provide

education services and advice for all teens (not just those who are having sex), teen moms, new

parents of all ages, and parents of teens. These are just a few of the many services that they offer.

The one service though that they provide that has caused a lot of controversy over the years is

abortions. Many states have taken it upon themselves to regulate laws on abortion on how they

want them to be.

State laws regulating abortion have proliferated dramatically in recent years. Twenty-

two states adopted seventy different restrictions in 2013 alone. Between 2011 and 2013, state

legislatures passed 205 abortion restrictions, exceeding the 189 enacted during the entire prior

decade. (Pruitt 2015)

Abortion, just even with how states have been regulating it has caused a lot of

controversy in the last couple years or so. This is also why there is even being a bill proposed to

cut the funding for the organization of Planned Parenthood. This bill is not being proposed

because of financial reasons. It is just to provide a way to please those who beliefs differ from

people who do not think abortion is wrong.

If this exact policy of the defunding of Planned Parenthood is put into effect and passed

by legislators it will not cost anything. It actually will be saving money. What the cost could be
for those who does utilize Planned Parenthoods services, if this policy is passed could be

extremely high. According to Planned Parenthood currently with the funding they receive they

have narrowed down which programs it goes to and how much of it is used by those programs.

The funding is broken down to, 42% STI testing, 34% Contraception, 11% Womens Services,

9% Cancer Screenings, 3% Abortions, 1% other. (Planned Parenthood) As it is shown only 3%

of the funding even goes to the cost of abortions but none of that funding is coming from the

Government because Title X where the funding is actually coming from prohibits that. The

biggest chunk is going to STI testing. The source of this funding is also shown and that is

Government: 528.4 million, Private: 391.8 million, Non-Government: 305.3 million, other

revenue: 77.9 million. (Planned Parenthood) So yes this funding is coming from the

government but also it is the biggest chunk of the funding that is coming from the government.

Not only will this affect people who use the services but at the same time it is infringing on

womens constitutional rights.

Abortion rights are controversial; on this we can all agree. Emotions and opinions aside,

constitutionally protected rights must be enforced by courts through invalidating legislative

actions that infringe on those rights. A woman has a constitutional right to an abortion. (Breslin

2014)

The defunding but not even just that but the fact that some Planned Parenthood clinics have

already been close due to this is really a huge issue because with the funding being taken away

would be extremely detrimental to those that use these services and it would be putting them at

risk.

Which leads into my next point is who does this affect and what are the potential cost to

those affected. Well if the defunding of Planned Parenthood is passed it will be affecting a lot
more than just one group of people. It will be affecting all of society. It will be removing access

to affordable birth control and contraception resulting in several thousand additional unplanned

pregnancies. Then as a result of that the Medicaid needed to cover these births would cost the

government more. Then another result of that Abortions may increase, and many more would be

unsafe and life-threatening to the mother. According to Planned Parenthood 79% of people

receiving services are at 150% the poverty level or lower. For the funding to be cut would be

after 80% of those who used Therefore the cost are set extremely high for those that would be

affected by this.

The funding that goes to Planned Parenthood comes from Title X. Medicaid and Title X

provide critical reproductive health care and family planning services to low-income women and

families throughout America. (Zoppo 2012) This is where the funding comes from for Planned

Parenthood. People who are arguing that government funding is going to fun the abortions are

misinformed. This is because Title X does not allow this to occur. One of the major cost that of

this policy being implanted would be that the government is now not going to help provide

extremely important services to people who not only need them but cannot afford to get them

from anywhere else. There is no need to end the services and funding of Planned Parenthood.

The government would just be digging themselves a bigger hole, for the sole fact that they are

creating a bigger problem by not having these people in need receive the services that they very

well deserve to have as human beings. According to the Guttmacher Institute

Non-Hispanic black and Hispanic women have higher rates of abortion (40 and 29 per

1,000 women aged 1544, respectively) than non-Hispanic white women do (12 per 1,000). The

higher rates reflect the fact that black and Hispanic women have high unintended pregnancy rates
(91 and 82 per 1,000 women, respectively), compared with non-Hispanic white women (36 per

1,000 women) (Finer 2006)

Therefore the women who do have the higher rates of abortion are minorities and then we

are just oppressing these women more by not letting them receive the birth control or education

about sex by defunding Planned Parenthood. The only benefit that the legislations would get

from the defunding of Planned Parenthood would be they are pleasing a group of people rather

then care for a group of people who really do not have a voice or say.
 References

BRESLIN, A. (2014). A WALL OF LEGISLATIVE OBSTACLES IN THE PATH OF A

WOMAN EXERCISING HER RIGHT TO AN ABORTION: PLANNED PARENTHOOD

ARIZONA INC. V. BETLACH. Golden Gate University Law Review, 45(1), 53-68.

Finer LB and Zolna MR, Unintended pregnancy in the United States: incidence and disparities,

2006, Contraception, 2011, doi: 10.1016/j.contraception.2011.07.013.

Planned Parenthood.org

Pruitt, L. R., & Vanegas, M. R. (2015). Urbanormativity, Spatial Privilege, and Judicial Blind

Spots in Abortion Law. Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice, 30(1), 76-153

Zoppo, D. (2012). THE WAR ON WOMEN: FEDERAL REMEDIES TO FIGHT BACK

AGAINST STATES THAT DE-FUND PLANNED PARENTHOOD. Vermont Law Review,

37(2), 495-525.