Planned Parenthood

I recently decided that I wanted to be a little more active in calling out the media when their stories lack key details. This has been a source of frustration that has built up over the years along with numerous other issues with our corrupt media. While I finally snapped with the court order conveniently omitted in the dispute between Apple and the FBI, we already had another source of debate with important information nowhere to be found.


While the debate has died down a little, I wanted to talk a little about the media's mishandling of the attempts to defund Planned Parenthood. Some presidential candidates have tried to revive the debate, but it's clear that I am a little late bringing up this subject.

The big issue that I have is that we are expected to form opinions regarding the government's funding of the organization without anyone explaining the nature of the funding. The way the media portrays things, it sounds like Planned Parenthood is practically a government agency. While the government is a major source of funding, that is not how things work.

It turns out that a large majority of funding is in the form of Medicaid reimbursements for services provided. Arguments could be made that any funding to the organization could free up money elsewhere in the organization (such as for abortions), but I don't see how we can demand more separation than this. Of course, this component really comes down to your opinions of Medicaid. Personally, I don't see how edited and deceptive videos (the reason this discussion was started) justify an immediate end to this form of funding.

Although significantly smaller, I have found another form of federal funding provided to Planned Parenthood. This is in the form of Title X funds. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find important details regarding these funds. From the little information that I have found, I have two primary concerns regarding Title X.

The first of these concerns is that I don't know how the government distributes Title X grants. The worst case scenario would be the government selecting organizations based off of their perceptions of possible recipients. I do not support the idea of the federal government playing favorites, and I would want the decision making process to be as objective as possible. Additionally, I would like to know what kinds of safeguards there are to ensure that these funds are not used illegally. Regardless of your opinions on abortions, it is illegal to use taxpayer money for the procedure.

The other concern has to do with whether or not Planned Parenthood even qualifies for Title X. Planned Parenthood is known to fight for the right to pursue abortions, and they are the largest provider of abortions in America. What does Title X state?

None of the funds appropriated under this title shall be used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning. 

This quote was taken directly from a PDF found at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services website. Perhaps I am misinterpreting those words, but I have a hard time believing that Planned Parenthood qualifies for Title X funding.

While looking for information, I ran into something else that makes me uncomfortable. Planned Parenthood receives over half a billion dollars each year. Part of their budget goes to a political action committee. Personally, I find it highly unethical for an organization to spend millions of dollars to try to buy a candidate's way into office that could potentially help them acquire hundreds of millions.

I should get back to my point. There are a lot of people out there who feel strongly about whether or not Planned Parenthood should receive funds that they know nothing about. Like a lot of these issues, you can thank the media. They are the ones who turned this into a big story without providing key facts.