Defunding Planned Parenthood won’t hurt women’s healthcare. Here’s why.

One question that has been raised quite frequently especially by talking heads on the news or touted by certain celebrities is this: If the current federal taxpayer dollars being poured into Planned Parenthood are redirected elsewhere, where will women go to receive quality care?

The question is posed in such a way as to imply that if Planned Parenthood were defunded, millions of women would immediately be without healthcare options. But despite the unearthing of Planned Parenthood’s past and current questionable business practices, many are still concerned that depriving them of federal funds will somehow hurt women.

This is, simply put, false.

“There are 13,540 federally-qualified, low-cost, high quality health care clinics and rural health centers, which outnumber Planned Parenthood 20 to 1 nationally,” according to Family Research Council.  (You can find one such clinic near you at GetYourCare.org.)

Planned Parenthood is the leading provider of abortions in the United States. When CEO Cecile Richards was asked if Planned Parenthood would stop performing abortions in order to keep its half a billion dollars in taxpayer funding, she replied, “absolutely not.” This shouldn’t be surprising, as according to Planned Parenthood’s latest report, last fiscal year Planned Parenthood performed approximately 900 abortions per day, which works out to be about 37 babies per hour. And despite the fact that the organization’s annual report has shown an overall increase in abortions while showing a simultaneous decline in healthcare services, Planned Parenthood still continues to receive in excess of half a billion dollars every year through federal funds. Planned Parenthood is all about profiting off of abortions, at the expense of women.

Even worse is that while Planned Parenthood’s website advertises that it offers abortion, adoption, and parenting services, the truth is that abortion is the primary option pushed on women who reach out to Planned Parenthood for help with life-affirming options.

A recent investigation conducted by Live Action investigators and documented by Live Action News revealed that Planned Parenthood staff were not interested in offering information to women who called asking for help with adoption referrals. The only “help” that Planned Parenthood staff were willing to offer over the phone was suggesting abortions:

Pregnant women call Planned Parenthood to hear about their options

Another video recently released by Live Action documents Planned Parenthood staff in similar fashion suggesting that women turn to Google for help for finding a place in order to find a place that provides actual pregnancy services:

"Look it up on Google" Planned Parenthood tells pregnant women looking for health care

No one wants to deny poor women quality, comprehensive healthcare services. Vital healthcare services are indeed important, but the fight against redirecting federal taxpayer dollars away from Planned Parenthood is not a fight against women’s health.