THE PROPOSED GOVERNMENT DEFUNDING OF PLANNED PARENTHOOD, THE IMPACT ON THE FEMALE COMMUNITY, AND THE SUBSEQUENT INFRINGEMENT UPON WOMEN'S RIGHTS
Hannah Niccum
COVER MEMO
I feel that this topic is important and relevant, and accordingly feel my sources are both strong and varied. I also believe that the survey succeeded in getting participants to address the topic in an honest manner, and the results accurately reflects the societal division this topic inspires, as well as the predominant prejudices of the region (California) in which the survey was conducted.
The biggest issue with my draft is the absence of my interview primary research, which is scheduled for later on in the week. Due to the lack of supplementary data, my analysis and overarching conclusions regarding the topic are nowhere near as strong as they could (and eventually will) be. Also, nearly all of my respondents were Californians, and although they reflect a diversity of viewpoints, it would be interesting to see how those results varied across the country.
I want to ensure that my paper is professional in nature, provides sufficient justification and data, as well as addresses the primary research question. After posting my survey I was told by one individual that it was too biased in how it was written. I would like to ask how the author’s bias is taken into account when drafting research projects.
Abstract
From America’s first provider of birth control in 1916 to its role as a provider of a wide range of healthcare services today, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA, or Planned Parenthood) has always been at the center of the storm that is reproductive rights. Today, Planned Parenthood is under a sustained political attack led by none other than the President of the United States. This attack seeks to defund Planned Parenthood and continue the trend of closing the organization's facilities across the country. This study aims to answer the question as to whether the proposed defunding of Planned Parenthood represents an infringement on women’s personal and collective rights.
I conducted a survey in order to gauge public opinion, will interview a representative from Planned Parenthood, and reviewed published literature on this topic. I queried 54 individuals using an online survey tool, and the results of that survey show a broad basis of support for Planned Parenthood, particularly amongst women. In addition, the survey clearly showed that the majority women view the proposed defunding of Planned Parenthood as an attack on their personal and collective rights. Although this divisive topic will never be “answered” with the surety of a mathematical equation, it is clear that the majority of individuals view the proposed defunding as an assault on women’s rights.
Introduction
Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA, or Planned Parenthood) is a national provider of health services, administering care to persons from a wide array of demographics. In 2016, Planned Parenthood served 2.4 million individuals in America, including 75,040 women in which cancer was detected early . Specializing in family planning and reproductive health care, Planned Parenthood has been at the center of the national debate regarding government funding of family planning services and access to birth control. Although abortions account for approximately two percent of the services delivered by Planned Parenthood, the organization’s role as a vocal advocate of abortion rights and its practice of selling fetal tissue for research has made it the focus of a long-term political attack by Pro-life advocates and politicians. Partly as a result, hundreds Planned Parenthood clinics have closed, bringing the total number in America to less than 665 today. In addition, ten states have eliminated funding for Planned Parenthood, and with the blessing of the Trump administration, more are working towards that goal. The highly politicized nature of any discussion regarding Planned Parenthood tends to obscure the facts about the services they provide. Government funding for Planned Parenthood is in excess of $500 million per year, and although abortion services are not paid for by Federal funds, Pro-Life advocates believe no money should be paid to an organization that provides abortions. As perhaps the number one issue that divides the country today, the topic of abortion is often equated to a litmus test regarding the survival of Planned Parenthood.
This paper will focus on the impact that the proposed government defunding of Planned Parenthood would have on the female community, and how access to family planning, contraceptive services, and women’s healthcare would be affected by such a step. More explicitly, the question this paper intends to address is: How does the proposed government defunding of Planned Parenthood impact the female community and infringe upon women’s individual and collective rights? These queries will be investigated through the analyses of an interview with Planned Parenthood Policy Advocate, Andrea San Miguel, the review of opinion and research articles on the topic, and the survey responses of men and women of various ages.
“Planned Parenthood is under attack — again. This time, a campaign of misinformation about the retrieval of fetal tissue used in research and therapy is the excuse.” This opening statement written by three physicians in an editorial published in the New England Journal of Medicine makes an impassioned plea to health care providers to support all of the services provided by Planned Parenthood, especially the collection of fetal tissue for research. “Unfortunately, politicized attacks against women’s healthcare are threatening to undermin3 the progress achieved to date. We have seen an unprecedented number of federal and state attacks on women’s health in the past year, including nine congressional votes to cease reimbursing Planned Parenthood for care provided to patients who depend on public health programs.” Contrasting this study with the opinions of opponents of Planned Parenthood makes it difficult to know where people stand regarding this organization and its services. Is the fight against Planned Parenthood seeking to preserve human life, or is it an attempt to deny women of their rights and access to care? What does a subset of American’s have to say on this topic?
METHODS
In order to better gauge the opinions of individuals regarding this topic, 54 individuals were asked to participate in an online survey seeking their opinions regarding the services provided by Planned Parenthood, government efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, and whether such attempts represented an abrogation of women’s rights. Survey participants included 34 females, 19 males, and one non-binary respondent. The survey consisted of closed questions that would provide statistics to help answer the research question. After revising the questions to eliminate excessive bias, the survey was shared online with the hopes of reaching an audience of varying backgrounds. Aside from self-identification of the sexuality of the participants, the survey also had individuals provide their age within a range. The survey questions were designed to determine how familiar individuals were with Planned Parenthood, ascertain their opinions about its services, and determine whether the elimination of government funding would, in their opinion, represent an infringement on women’s rights. The results of the survey were tabulated in order to identify not just how people responded, but also how specific groups of individuals view the importance of Planned Parenthood. In addition, I conducted an online interview with a representative of Planned Parenthood (scheduled for later this week), with detailed questions designed to provoke in-depth responses, and utilized several studies that are referenced in this paper.
I tried to gather a significant basis of peer-reviewed research, but the emotional nature of the topic meant that I spent a lot of time sorting through a lot of information that was not evidence-based. Once I had gathered my primary background information, I attempted to identify my interview candidate. Although I considered multiple sources for this information, I finally decided that a representative from Planned Parenthood would make for the most informed source. I reached out to Planned Parenthood, identified the potential candidate, and scheduled an interview which has yet to take place. With my background either in hand or scheduled, I tabulated the results of my survey and looked at the results from a variety of perspectives.
RESULTS
Accounting for the geographic distribution (nearly all California) and female bias (63 percent female) of the respondents, the survey results were within the range of recent national polls on this topic. When asked “Would you view a restriction or elimination of access to Planned Parenthood as infringing upon other women’s rights?” 74 percent of all recipients said yes, and 17 percent no, which is nearly identical to a 2018 Kaiser Family Foundation poll on the topic that found 75 percent of Americans felt this way. This response varied tremendously by sex, as more than 86 percent of females but only 52 percent of men agreed with the question. The results also differed significantly by age, as 83 percent of those 25 and under but only 44 percent of those 56 and older felt this way. An individual’s familiarity with the services provided by Planned Parenthood also strongly influenced their perception of this question, as respondents who were aware of three or fewer services were evenly divided between answering no, yes, and unsure, at 33 percent each.
DISCUSSION
I undertook this study to better understand how individuals viewed this highly political topic, and what were the demographical factors that influenced their opinions. By asking background questions regarding gender identification, age, and familiarity with Planned Parenthood services, I attempted to gather enough detail to understand how individuals from different backgrounds viewed this topic. The results reflect society at large, in that there is a sharp divide on this topic. Although the great majority of respondents view the defunding of Planned Parenthood as an infringement on women’s rights, there is a strong minority that is opposed to such funding. This disconnect is partly a male/female divide, but also occurs amongst age groups. The one non-demographic factor that seemed to influence how someone felt was their familiarity with Planned Parenthood services. The results were at the high end of recent national surveys on overall support for funding of Planned Parenthood, although my focus on whether funding cuts were an attack on women’s rights was different from the focus of other surveys I read. Although the survey reflected some bias, featured a small sample size of individuals who know me or know someone who knows me, and almost all respondents were California-based, it still served to capture individual opinions in a manner consistent with other surveys.
Conclusion
The primary question posed by this survey, “How does the proposed government defunding of Planned Parenthood impact the female community and infringe upon women’s individual and collective rights?” led to some noteworthy results. Although both women and men support the government funding of Planned Parenthood, young people and women were far more likely to feel this way than older people and men. Much of the disparity of opinions had to do with how familiar an individual was with Planned Parenthood; those with a limited or incomplete perspective were more likely to oppose funding and believe it did not impact women’s rights than those who were more familiar with the services provided by the organization. In order to impact these perspectives and fight off the current efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, the organization needs to focus on educating the general public, especially older males, on the many services other than abortion and birth control that are offered by the organization. Also, as part of the efforts to minimize the importance of services provided by Planned Parenthood, opposition groups have come up with charts showing a broad network of community health centers that can replace the non-abortion services provided by the organization. But these centers are already severely impacted, provide limited family planning services, and cannot take the place of Planned Parenthood in any significant manner. To overcome these obstacles, Planned Parenthood must continue their educational campaign to counter impressions and misinformation with the facts on the services it provides and the impact the loss of such services would have on women in general and society as a whole.
References
Bradley-Springer, Lucy. "Standing Up for Planned Parenthood." Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care 27, no. 1 (2016): 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jana.2015.10.008.
Brandhorst, Jaclyn K. and Freddie J. Jennings. "Fighting for Funding: Values Advocacy and Planned Parenthood's Right-to-Life." Public Relations Review 42, no. 4 (November 2016): 723-733. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2016.06.002.
Davi, Sharmila. "Anti-Abortion Groups Target Funding of Planned Parenthood." The Lancet 386, no. 9997 (September, 2015): 941. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00113-0.
Ranji, Usha, Alina Salganicoff, Laurie Sobel, Caroline Rosenzweig, and Ivette Gomez. "Financing Family Planning Services for Low-Income Women: The Role of Public Programs." Kaiser Family Foundation, (May 2017). https://www.kff.org/womens-health- policy/issue-brief/financing-family-planning-services-for-low-income-women-the-role- of-public-programs/.
Richards, Cecile. "Protecting and Expanding Access to Birth Control." The New England Journal of Medicine 374, no. 9 (March, 2016): 801-803. https:doi.org/10.1056NEJMp1601150.
Topulos, George P., Michael F. Greene, and Jeffrey M. Drazen. "Planned Parenthood at Risk." The New England Journal of Medicine 373, no. 10 (September, 2015): 963. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMe1510281
"2016-2017 Annual Report". Planned Parenthood, (2017): 1-39. https://www.plannedparenthood.org/uploads/filer_public/71/53/7153464c-8f5d-4a26-bead-2a0dfe2b32ec/20171229_ar16-17_p01_lowres.pdf