It is astounding to me the debate going on across the nation about Planned Parenthood and women’s health on both sides of the isle. In today’s New York Times Article, Women in Texas Losing Options for Health Care in Abortion Fight, Pam Belluck argues that the fight to end tax-payer abortions is causing a serious toile on Woman’s access to health care across the state.
They begin the article with an emotional pander stating, “Leticia Parra, a mother of five scraping by on income from her husband’s sporadic construction jobs, relied on the Planned Parenthood clinic in San Carlos, an impoverished town in South Texas, for breast cancer screenings, free birth control pills and pap smears for cervical cancer. But the clinic closed in October, along with more than a dozen others in the state, after financing for women’s health was slashed by two-thirds by the Republican-controlled Legislature.” What they fail to mention is that the state of Texas faced a several billion-dollar deficit this past session and made cuts to programs across the board.
In addition, they fail to mention where the money was redirected to and how other important state functions were helped by the funds transferred their way. One amendment in particular, #46 to the House Budget, took money away from Planned Parenthood and put it towards children with autism (which had received no funding in the House Appropriations Bill). When questioned about this Rep. Christian stated, “We don’t choose between good and bad, we choose between necessary and necessary”, meaning every interest group wants money, lawmakers much choose their battles and give the money to whom they think needs it more.
Planned Parenthood is far from the safe haven for women that the left likes to portray it as. For years they have been caught in scandals ranging from giving advice to pimps on how to receive free care for their underage prostitutes to disposing of fetus remains behind the dumpsters in their facilities. Do you really want your state tax dollars funding operations like that?
Unfortunately, Republicans have made many crucial mistakes when pursuing this issue in their dealings with the media. Instead of phrasing it as allocating scarce resources to more deserving causes, they often phrase it as a war on birth control and abortion. Just look at the gaffs made by Rick Santorum. He speaks as though he desires to outright outlaw birth control. If that is not big government, I don’t know what is.
Republicans need to rephrase the debate to something along the lines of: “If a woman desires to use contraception, she has the right to do so with her own money. However, that being said, it is not fair to subsidize a woman’s sexual practices at the expense of the tax payer.” In essence, frame the argument to portray this type of funding as welfare for contraceptives.
Sex is a luxury, not a right. If someone cannot afford to be on birth control and does not wish to have a child (or cannot afford a child) then they should not be having sex. Period. Our country is 15 trillion dollars in debt and we are paying for these women to be on birth control (while at the same time subsidizing abortions because they take place in the same places). Insanity.
The media likes sensationalism. Phrasing this fight as a battle for scarce resources isn’t nearly controversial enough to garner readership, because of this, publications like the New York Times like to make it out to be a fight to end woman’s healthcare. That is not the case at all. Women can still have access to all the things a Planned Parenthood has to offer; only they have to pay for it instead of the taxpayer.
