Sunday, April 2, 2017
Blog Stage V: Original Editorial or Commentary #1
Planned Parenthood is a non-profit government organization that seeks to provides a number of affordable medical services such as preventative contraception, health screenings and treatments, sexual education and last but not least, abortions. It is an organization that seeks to improve the well-being and quality of life for the men, women, and youth of our country. It is a sad but evident truth that for years many Republican politicians in the Texas government have been pushing to reduce or cut funding for Planned Parenthood clinics. Because Planned Parenthood is a government organization it relies heavily on funding from public health programs. The cutting of funding for Planned Parenthood would result in many low-income citizens who already struggle financially from receiving the health care they can afford and more importantly, the care they deserve. The Texas Government is heavily represented by conservative Republicans, most of which are opposed to government funded health care, and are widely known to be anti-abortion. The majority of conservative politicians that want to cut funding are largely influenced by the fact that Planned Parenthood provides abortions, which actually only accounts for three percent of its services--abortion being a service that isn’t even federally funded. With this in mind it doesn’t make sense to cut funds for an organization that has only benefitted the health of our society, especially since no government funds go to the service provided that anti-abortion Republicans are so against. Furthermore, many of the government officials in favor of cutting funds for Planned Parenthood aren’t the ones who would suffer from the consequences of these actions. Due to the misrepresentation of minorities in the Texas government, millions of citizens that do not have a voice in our government would suffer tremendously. Without providers such as Planned Parenthood, low-income citizens would have no place to turn. As an American it is our fundamental right to have access to affordable health care, a fundamental right for women to have a choice, and a fundamental right to have a government that will support programs that benefit our society for the greater good.
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Health care as part of the social responsibility seems been a taboo in America, since the topic is so divided between people who think that the government should care about the health of their citizens and, the people who don’t want to have any governmental intervention into their medical bills or visits.
ReplyDeletePart of the taboo, in my opinion, comes from the lack of information from the people with resources, who think that if the government is involved in health care, they “have” to go to the governmental medical services, when actually they can still spend the same amount of money in their private services. Another misinterpretation from people who is disagree with the government providing medical services is that individual taxes would go to pay the health of others. It might sound logical for some people and, for others it can sound very individualistic and selfish. However, for good or bad, the taxes that every individual pays benefit many other things to that ‘other people.’
I understand that many people also would recalls religious values to be opposed to some services that Plan Parenthood provides. But I think that data and numbers talk by themselves when we refer to domestic violence, rape, teen pregnancy. We should add that for the same religious reason, the adoption of the policy of “abstinence-plus” is not intended as best option for teens, but to avoid the uncomfortable talk of sex education and responsibility.
The fight against Plan Parenthood also blocks the access to contraception for poor people, who are the most affected in the case of a supernumerous families. Sadly, these actions have a chain effect on poverty, medium and high-level education access, quality of parenting, and jobs. I think that this fight is also part of a fight with women empowerment and their capacity to plan for better life.
Health should be a right to access for everybody and it should be part of the social responsibility of the government as part of alleviating the poverty and segregation. People with economic resources would always go to better services, but, it is fair for poor people to have health care too.