The Fight to Defund Planned Parenthood : What's it All About?

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Yesterday, the ninth in a series of undercover Planned Parenthood sting videos was released.  The video from the Center for Medical Progress features Perrin Larton, a procurement manager for the company Advanced BioScience Resources, which works with a Planned Parenthood clinic in California and provides aborted baby tissue to researchers. Previous videos have outlined Planned Parenthood's sale of aborted baby tissue and organs, which has caused them to come under fire from many groups, politicians and celebrities.

Planned Parenthood's response to the videos has been to claim that they were faked or highly edited. They also made this statement: "The allegation that Planned Parenthood profits in any way from tissue donation is not true. Our donation programs – like any other high-quality health care providers – follow all laws and ethical guidelines. Over our 100-year history, we have continually engaged leading medical experts to shape our practices, policies, and high standards – and always will."

To be clear, federal law bans the sale of unborn babies’ body parts and organs.  In fact, it’s considered a criminal act.  However, the law provides a loophole allowing payment for a wide range of services associated with the "donation" of aborted babies organs, including “reasonable payments associated with the transportation, implantation, processing, preservation, quality control, or storage of human fetal tissue.” Planned Parenthood does receive payment for these "donations" to an approximate total of $23 million per year. Because of these concerns over buying tissue of aborted babies, many conservatives are calling for Planned Parenthood to be defunded.

It is important to note that, with the exception of extreme cases, federal money cannot be used to fund abortions. Planned Parenthood however, does receive a large amount of it's funding from the federal government.

Planned Parenthood is the largest provider of abortions in the U.S. They have received scrutiny in the past for some of their practices, including many undercover videos seeking to expose them for coercive abortions, failure to notify parents, and encouraging abortions over other options.

Those who defend Planned Parenthood note that the company provides many other services including contraception, STD/STI screenings, cancer screenings (not mammograms though), and other women's health services. These are the services for which they receive federal funding. According to their annual report, abortions make up approximately 3% of their yearly medical services.

That 3%, however, equaled 327,000 abortions last year. In total it is estimated that there were just over 1.05 million abortions performed in the U.S. in 2011 (the last available year). If this number has stayed even, it would mean that Planned Parenthood performed nearly one-fourth of all abortions in the U.S. last year.  In total Planned parenthood has conducted over 6 million abortions. They are the largest provider of abortions in the country.

So why do people want it defunded? If Planned Parenthood is defunded by the federal government, they would lose approximately $500 million in funding per year. Their total yearly budget is approximately $1.1 billion per year. This means over 40% of their yearly budget comes through federal funding. Opponents believe that because so much of their operating budget comes from the federal government, this means they are thereby funding abortions as well. If Planned Parenthood were not allowed to have federal funding it would deal a serious blow to the company. It is foreseeable that this could cause them to close several clinics throughout the country, thereby limiting their ability to perform as many abortions as they do.

The Senate already attempted a vote to defund Planned Parenthood which failed by a 53-46 margin. This is not the end of the debate in Congress though. The federal government is set to run out of funding September 30th, and members of Congress are threatening to stand firm on Planned Parenthood funding, with some even threatening to shut down the government in order to defund Planned Parenthood.

When talking about whether they would seek to defund Planned Parenthood as part of the debates on government funding Mitch McConnell stated, "We just don’t have the votes to get the outcome that we’d like. I would remind all of your viewers, the way you make a law in this country, the Congress has to pass it, and the president has to sign it. The president has made it very clear he is not going to sign any bill that includes defunding of Planned Parenthood, so that’s another issue that awaits a new president, hopefully with a different point of view about Planned Parenthood."

We will see over the next few months what will happen with federal funding for Planned Parenthood. For those who are pro-life, Planned Parenthood represents abortion in the U.S. This debate has been waged for decades now and has become one of the most politically charged topics in our country. No matter what decision is made concerning Planned Parenthood funding, this debate will not be over soon.

Why I Take the Donald Trump Campaign Seriously, and You Should Too.

In the past few months we have begun the search for the next President of the United States of America. This year and a half process of deciding who will be given enormous amounts of power over human life in this country cannot be taken lightly. Who we decide to elect president will most likely have a wide range of impacts, from supreme court nominees, to military conflicts, to economic affairs. Each citizen has been given the right to vote, to help decide who that person should be. This right should never be taken lightly, as generations have fought so all may have and retain it.

Many have deemed the democratic nomination to be a shoo in for Hilary Clinton, most are not considering any other candidates for nomination. On the other side, 16 republicans have announced their candidacy. Of these 16 -which includes several governors with exceptional records, and several senators- Donald Trump is the current front runner for the republican nomination. Though many people have thought his whole presidential campaign is nothing more than a publicity stunt, many people are taking him seriously as a candidate. While I support his right to run, I am concerned with why people support him.

My recent experience with Trump supporters has made me question whether or not they even know where he stands on the issues, or if they are more anti-establishment, anti-Washington, and anti-political correctness. Trump is known for his brash talk with bold statements on issues such as immigration and veterans. He has attacked establishment mainstays like John McCain and Lindsay Graham in sometimes sophomoric ways leading many to call for apologies which never came.

Some people appreciate that unapologetic personality and think that kind of attitude is what we need to have in Washington leading our country. Others say the reason they support Trump because you know he'll do what he says. Many have told me it is because he has been such a successful businessman that we need someone who understands business in the white house. 

Those I have come in contact with have no idea where he sits on most issues aside from immigration. So where does Donald Trump stand on the issues?

Speaking about healthcare he said: "It is an unacceptable but accurate fact that the number of uninsured Americans has risen to 42 million. Working out detailed plans will take time. But the goal should be clear: Our people are our greatest asset. We must take care of our own. We must have universal healthcare."

On gun control: "I support the ban on assault weapons and I support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun."

On tax reform: "If we want jobs in America, we need to enact my 5-part tax policy: kill the death tax; lower the tax rates on capital gains & dividends; eliminate corporate taxes in order to create more American jobs; mandate a 15% tax for outsourcing jobs and a 20% tax for importing goods, and enact the 1-5-10-15 income tax plan [four brackets with a top rate of 15%]."

Now he has many more stances on many more issues including abortion, education, etc. Sometimes he has stayed steady, sometimes he has flip flopped. If you are considering supporting him, please read up on what he has said over the years on the issues.

For those who are supporting him because they think he'll be outspoken and unapologetic in the White House, I would like to point you to our current president. No matter what has happened, he has been unapologetic: Benghazi, Fast and Furious, IRS, VA, the Middle East, etc. That is not how you heal America, that is how you divide it further. We need less divisiveness and more compromise among our nation's leaders.

For those who say that they support Trump because - as one person put it - "at least you know what you will get with him, or do you want some one like we have now who says what you wanna hear then does nothing?" My response is that no candidate will ever be perfect on doing everything he says he will do - that is the reality of the presidency.

Sometimes they realize they don't have the authority to do those things, often they realize there are reasons for that, and lastly we are electing a president with constitutionally limited powers, not a king. Even if Donald Trump is elected president, he won't, and can't do all of the things he claims he would do. Some of those things are not within the powers of the president to enact.

We can only consider what he has said in the past, because we have no true political record of how he would act to follow. I say this because, when considering his record, you have to consider: what record does Donald Trump have of accomplishing anything without having either a contractual obligation or a monetary incentive to accomplish it? As president he will have neither.

The real reason why he's getting a boost right now is more than likely a disgruntled GOP electorate. Early polls are no guarantee who will be the nominee by far. At this point four years ago Rick Santorum was leading in the polls. As the debates near, I encourage you to consider every candidate just as I will, where they stand on the issues now, and what they have accomplished in the past.

Please read what each candidate has done, what they say and think about what is best for all of America. This is not a time to rush onto a bandwagon because a candidate is bold or is popular. This is the time to contemplate the future of America and who we think will be best to lead it. 

You are still  allowed to support Donald Trump, but I ask that you consider all of the candidates as well. Read about them and where they are on the issues, what they have done with their time in the private sector and in office. Please take your duty as a citizen of this great nation seriously.