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Planned Parenthood videos spark unease, irrational reactions

 
Published July 31, 2015

WASHINGTON

My first reaction to the Planned Parenthood videos was to cringe and try to avoid the topic.

Even for those who support abortion rights, there is a stomach-churning aspect to the surreptitiously taped conversations with Planned Parenthood officials — the cold-blooded discussion, between bites of salad and sips of red wine, of "less crunchy" techniques to obtain specimens, and the precise placement of "graspers" to avoid having to "crush" a valuable body part.

If you hear this and fail to squirm, there is something wrong with you.

That response is, of course, what the anti-abortion activists who posed as purchasers and prodded the officials into discussions of payment were counting on. The ensuing uproar, which is taking the congressional form of a clamor to strip Planned Parenthood of its federal funding, was predictable.

It is also not rational — whatever your position in the abortion debate.

If you are among those who view abortion tantamount to murder, I respect your belief. But consider: Defunding Planned Parenthood would inevitably result in more unplanned pregnancies and therefore more abortions, not fewer. In fact, if you really want to reduce the number of abortions, you should be lobbying to increase funding for Planned Parenthood and other organizations that provide birth control.

An important reminder: The federal money that goes to the organization cannot be used in any way to underwrite its abortion services. Defunding Planned Parenthood would mean taking away money that it receives from the federal government for contraception and other essential services. Among low-income women who receive publicly supported contraceptive care at clinics, more than one-third use Planned Parenthood clinics, according to the Guttmacher Institute. It is no answer to breezily suggest that women obtain birth control elsewhere. The capacity to serve this population does not exist and won't magically spring up overnight.

What about the muddled majority who support abortion in some circumstances but feel uncomfortable about the practices described in the videos?

One important fact in assessing how to respond is their scarcity. These involve second-trimester abortions, which account for less than 10 percent of abortions. They are conducted at just a handful of Planned Parenthood affiliates in three states. Overall numbers aren't available, but Planned Parenthood told me that at one affiliate with a tissue-donation program, one-tenth of 1 percent of abortions performed there in a single year resulted in tissue donation.

Another is the justification for donations: The tissue goes to researchers studying Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, Down syndrome, cystic fibrosis and miscarriage, among other health issues. Providing fetal tissue for such research is not only permitted under federal law, it is supported — as it should be — by federal funds, $76 million last year.

So is the money a problem? Federal law permits "reasonable payments associated with the transportation, implantation, processing, preservation, quality control, or storage of human fetal tissue." So some money can change hands — just not too much.

The suggestion that Planned Parenthood was using fetal remains as a major revenue stream is belied by both the small scope of the practice and Planned Parenthood officials' comments, despite the best efforts of the undercover anti-abortion activists to induce them to bargain over price.

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Abortion is an uncomfortable topic, even for many of us who support a woman's right to choose. The videos exploit that queasiness. They do not justify the irrational response of eliminating funding that helps millions of woman stay healthy and avoid unwanted pregnancies.

© 2015 Washington Post Writers Group