Everybody deserves the right to control their bodies, lives and futures. Lawmakers and public officials hostile to abortion want to attack Planned Parenthood and strip people of essential health care.
Elected officials are supposed to help the communities they serve. Instead, these public officials are trying to shut down a nonprofit organization that helps ensure people’s health and well-being — worsening the health care crisis they created and putting millions of lives at risk.
When politicians talk about “defunding” Planned Parenthood, they really mean blocking patients who depend on public health care funds, like Medicaid, from getting their care at Planned Parenthood health centers.
The majority of Planned Parenthood patients pay for their care using Medicaid and other federal and state programs for uninsured patients. Many of these patients are people with low incomes who don’t have private health insurance and already face significant barriers to care. Without Planned Parenthood, millions of people would have nowhere to turn for care.
Planned Parenthood health centers provide over 2 million patients a year with essential, preventive reproductive health care, like birth control, cancer screenings, wellness exams, STI testing and treatment, and more.
Catherine George
Brighton Heights