Thanks To Mike Pence, A New Measure Allows States To Defund Planned Parenthood | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Politics and Activism

Thanks To Mike Pence, A New Measure Allows States To Defund Planned Parenthood

Thanks, Mr. Vice President. No, of course this isn't sarcasm.

9
Thanks To Mike Pence, A New Measure Allows States To Defund Planned Parenthood
National Review

On Thursday, the Senate passed a measure that would allow states to block federal funding for family planning organizations such as Planned Parenthood, with our very own Vice President Mike Pence casting the tiebreaker vote. This bill overrides a protection that stopped states from defunding these centers purely for political reasons and was created during Obama's presidency.

So, what does this mean?

Centers like Planned Parenthood receive Title X money that is specifically set aside for family planning and other relative health services for women. Title X grants cover birth control, pregnancy care, cancer and other disease screening and treatments, but they can't be used for abortion services.

All Democrat senators and two Republican senators voted against the bill, but it wasn't enough, and as a result it will now become even harder for women to have access to health care.

Quite frankly, I am sick of this. It is not up to any politician whatsoever to decide whether or not women should be given access to quality health care. It is not up to any politician to decide whether or not women can have abortions. That choice should belong with women alone, as it is their bodies that are carrying (or not carrying - see how that works?) the baby.

And here's another thing I think people aren't realizing: defunding Planned Parenthood and other family planning centers is not going to solve any problems. In fact, it'll just create more of them. Women aren't going to wake up and think, "Okay, even though I do not want to be pregnant, I guess I'll just have to keep it now since I can't go to Planned Parenthood."

Not all pregnancies came from a happy marriage where both parents were ready and consenting. And no child deserves to be born into a family where it is not wanted or cannot be cared for adequately. In addition to that, no child deserves to be placed into foster care because their real parents were not ready for a child, but had no other options.

No one wakes up in the morning and thinks, "Oh boy, I'm getting an abortion today!" No one carries their baby for nearly the full nine months and then randomly decides to have an abortion. Late-term abortions only happen when there is a serious threat to either the mother or the baby.

Abortion is not a decision you make in five minutes. It is not fun, and many women who get abortions wish it didn't have to come to that in the first place. Defunding Planned Parenthood does not guarantee that women will stop getting abortions, it only guarantees that women will stop getting safe abortions.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Student Life

8 Things I Realized After My First Semester In College

Actually, Kylie Jenner, 2018 is the year of realizing things.

133
Friends

The first semester of college is famous for being one of the most difficult transitions of one's young adult life. You're thrown into a completely new area where the majority of the people surrounding you are strangers in an academic environment that's much more challenging then what you've grown accustomed to for the past twelve years. On top of that, you probably share a room with another person (or even multiple people) on the lumpiest "mattress" you've ever slept on.

With this change comes a lot of questions: what do I want to major in? What am I passionate about? Is what I'm passionate about something I'm actually good at? Why does the bathroom smell like cranberry juice and vodka? What is that thing at the bottom of the shower drain?

Keep Reading...Show less
girls with mascot
Personal Photo

College is tough, we all know. Here are 8 gifs you will 99% relate to if you are in college.

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

7 Things College Has Taught Me

Other than knowledge and all those important things

456
7 Things College Has Taught Me
We Know Memes

So, college is the place where you're supposed to learn all of these amazing life skills.

Here are the top seven skills I have learned thus far.

Keep Reading...Show less
college

College is some of the greatest years of anyone's life. Its a time to be outrageous, different and free; a time to do everything you were afraid to do. Here are 38 things you will learn during your four (maybe, five or six) years in college!

1. As a freshman, one does get to be called “freshman” by upperclassmen when they walk to parties in a mob of people.

Keep Reading...Show less
Adulting

6 Unrealistic Expectations Society Has For Young Adults

Don't let the thesaurus-inspired vocabularies in our résumés fool you. We're actually just big kids.

3100
boy in adult clothes

Well over four feet tall and 100 pounds in weight, many of us "young adults" of the world still consider ourselves children. Big, working, college-attending, beer-drinking children. We may live on our own, know how to cook noodles, and occasionally use a planner, but don't be fooled; the youthful tendencies that reside within us still make their way into our daily lives. From choosing to stay up until 3:00 a.m. playing video games on a school night to going out in 30 degree weather without a coat, we still make decisions that our parents and grandparents would shake their heads at in disappointment. So why are we expected to know exactly how to be a wise, professional, sensible adult? It's not that we're irresponsible (for the most part, anyway). It's that we are young, inexperienced, and still have the sought-after, enthusiastic mentality that we can do and be whatever we want, which has not yet been tarnished by the reality of the world. These are just a few of the unrealistic expectations that society has for young adults.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments