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Editorial: Congress should stop demonizing Planned Parenthood

 
Planned Parenthood has become a political football in Congress. An effort led by Republicans to strip the organization’s funding failed in the Senate on Monday.
Planned Parenthood has become a political football in Congress. An effort led by Republicans to strip the organization’s funding failed in the Senate on Monday.
Published Aug. 4, 2015

A Republican-led effort to strip Planned Parenthood of federal funding fell short in the Senate on Monday, but that doesn't mean the attacks are going to stop. The organization has become a political football tossed about by politicians ranging from presidential hopefuls to Gov. Rick Scott, who ordered an unnecessary investigation into Planned Parenthood in Florida. The politicians and abortion rights opponents are irresponsibly linking a controversy involving the sale of fetal tissues procured during abortions with government funding for the organization. The two have nothing to do with each other, and politicians should stop playing games with women's health.

The latest fracas over Planned Parenthood started earlier this summer when an activist group began releasing undercover videos that show the organization's doctors discussing the process of fetal tissue donation. In five videos, Planned Parenthood representatives talk with people posing as medical researchers about the process of harvesting fetal tissue and the costs associated with the practice. Almost immediately, Republicans and anti-abortion activists began a dishonest protest of Planned Parenthood. With the release of each new video, calls for repealing federal funding grew along with some congressional Republicans talking of shutting down the government if Congress refuses.

What's missing from the conversation are the facts. Planned Parenthood does not profit from the sale of fetal tissue procured in abortions. Federal law allows the organization only to receive money to cover responsible costs for expenses such as tissue collection and specimen transport. Federal money does not pay for abortions at Planned Parenthood or tissue collections, which take place solely at the discretion of female patients and are used to support medical research. Planned Parenthood says its fetal tissue program only operates in three states, and Florida is not one of them. That didn't stop Scott from grabbing headlines and launching an investigation into the organization.

Calls to revoke Planned Parenthood's federal funding and/or shutting down the government over the issue are reckless. The organization operates about 700 health centers around the country. Nearly 90 percent of its work focuses on providing basic gynecological services and preventive care to women, such as birth control, cancer screenings and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases. Many of the organization's patients are low-income women who would struggle to find care if Planned Parenthood closed its doors. The organization also provides educational outreach to more than 1 million youths and adults each year.

The undercover videos are difficult to watch, and Planned Parenthood's president has apologized for the tone of the recorded conversations. But they should not diminish the good work Planned Parenthood does. It is unfair to use the videos to demonize Planned Parenthood and reduce the organization to a single practice that makes up less than 10 percent of the services it provides — at no cost to taxpayers. This is an organization that provides essential services to women, abortion rights opponents have made their point with the videos and Congress should move on.