Planned Parenthood is everywhere, I don’t think there is a
news outlet, social media outlet or website you can go to that isn’t talking
about Planned Parenthood. First, it was the videos that went viral of doctors
discussing selling the body parts of aborted fetuses and it is even commonly
brought up in the past two presidential debates. It seems like all anyone can
ever read about is Planned Parenthood and abortions. Now, before deciding to
write my blog about this topic, I did not know much about Planned Parenthood
other than that abortions are done there because that is all that is portrayed
in the media. I decided to do some research and see what other services Planned
Parenthood provides and play the devil’s advocate and talk about the good they
do and why this organization shouldn’t be shut down. This is an attempt to
promote pro-life or pro-choice views, it is actually not about abortion at all,
it is showing the other side to the story and revealing what I learned about
this organization after some research.
Did you know that Planned Parenthood has been around for
almost 100 years and has around 700 health centers? I certainly didn’t and had
no idea this organization was as big as it was. I also was not aware of all the
different types of services this organization provides. They offer a plethora
of different birth control options to serve as contraceptives and to help those
that need it for medical reasons such an endometriosis or polycystic ovarian
syndrome (POS). They also provide general health care services such as flu
vaccines, physical exams, diabetes and cholesterol screenings, and cancer
screenings. They also have services that cater to men, such as colon, prostate
and testicular cancer screenings, male infertility and more. Planned Parenthood
offers a vast amount of medical services to people and is better suited to
those who don’t have insurance because Planned Parenthood is affordable and
offers some services free.
Health Insurance doesn’t come without a cost, if people can
even afford it at all. Health care is expensive, so expensive in fact that some
people go without the necessary health care they need because of fear they
won’t be able to afford the doctors visits, treatment or medicine. Planned
Parenthood tried to ease some of that worry and is a common health care place
for those who are uninsured and cannot afford health care from a primary care
physician. Planned Parenthood helps millions of youths and young adults each
year.
Positive awareness has started to be spread for Planned Parenthood,
#IStandWithPP was trending on Facebook and Twitter and even an article was
published online about the different reasons why men and women went to planned
parenthood and very few of them were for abortions and most were for basic
medical assistance but that person lacked necessary financials or insurance to
seek it elsewhere. I was surprised by this because this is not as commonly
shown in the media as the negative.
Overall, the lesson to be taken from this is to not only
take the side of the media. Do your own research and learn the other side to a
story before making a decision on something. It is always beneficial to have
the facts from both sides before making any assumptions. Media can tend to hide
facts and exaggerate to make their story get more attention.
Aspen, this post was incredibly interesting to me! I had no idea that Planned Parenthood provided all of those services. From what I had seen on the issue, from social media and headlines, the government was defunding Planned Parenthood due to faulty practices in abortion, therefore I only assumed that PP dealt with abortions. I had no idea these clinics performed so many other common healthcare practices and at such low costs to individuals in need.
ReplyDeleteIn looking at the scope of things it seems bizarre that they would even try to rid the program in the first place. It almost seems like denying the American people the right to: a "healthy" life! I can understand why they would want to defund the program for one year though as it has been made clear that some in the program are participating in the selling of tissues and restricted abortion practices. I think that defunding the program is much too harsh of a sanction as Planned Parenthood CLEARLY helps thousands across the country that would not normally be given access to health care. I feel as though reforming the program, retraining employees or even firing those involved with the practices that are being called out on would be more appropriate.
I was so happy when I read your blog post just because it is nice to see someone not fully believe what the media tells them. I have such a negative outlook on the media and it is because of things like this. Usually, the media will only give one side to the story, and what kills me the most is that people believe it for the whole truth!!! A couple days ago in a different course of mine, we were talking about Planned Parenthood, and the majority of the class did not know that PP offers services other than abortion. I mean, it was like a shock to everybody. And of course, I was shocked by the fact that almost no one in the class knew about the other services that PP offers. I understand why people are so against Planned Parenthood, but I feel like if more people knew about the good that PP does (other than just the bad) that so many people would not be against PP. People will believe anything that the media tells them and it drives me insane! Again, I am so happy that you wrote about this subject because it is important for people to have both sides of a story and all the facts before they begin to judge.
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