Many of us know or have heard of Planned Parenthood before. For those of you that do not know what Planned Parenthood is, it is a non profit organization that provides reproductive health services to those that need it. This is one place that not only many women turn to, but many men as well.

Although men make appointments to go to Planned Parenthood, the defunding would affect many women locally, and globally. Higher authorities want to control what women can do with their bodies. We should all have a say to what happens with our bodies, especially when it comes to our reproductive system. The decisions that we make are ones that we must live with for the rest of our lives. Why should we allow people that do not know us individually to take that right away?

One major target for the defunding is abortions. Personally, defunding Planned Parenthood could be the worst thing to do. If a woman becomes pregnant and does not want to keep her baby, that should be her choice, and her choice alone. There are freak things that happen, and there are situations that can be out of our control. No longer allowing abortions can cause many unwanted children, children that end up becoming neglected. One situation that everyone is aware of is rape. Not allowing victims to have abortions can cause more unwanted pregnancies, and can be more of a burden on the victims. Our bodies are not out of control, they are the only thing we have absolute control over. Planned Parenthood allows women to make the decision that seems right to them in an affordable manner.

By defunding this organization, many women will lose their only resource to birth control. Many of you may say, who needs birth control, there are other ways to be safe while being sexually active. Sure a lot of women use birth control to help prevent an unwanted pregnancy, but many others use it for other reasons. Women can have irregular menstrual cycles, especially young women. Birth control is one option for those young women to help regulate their periods. This means no more guessing when mother nature is going to hit you, and little to no more painful period symptoms.

Defunding Planned Parenthood helps no one. It does not help the people trying to defund the program, and it most definitely does not help the men and women that rely on the organization for their needs. It certainly does not help the teenagers that made one mistake, the victims that got pregnant from a situation that was out of their control, and the people that are not ready to have kids yet. This is the only affordable place that people can go to get help with their reproductive needs.