Congressional War on Planned Parenthood or Abortion?

Recently, a measure to strip Planned Parenthood of federal funding was brought into Congress.  The measure passed in the House but was not as successful in the Senate.  Planned Parenthood provides many services to women (and men).  Those services include, STD testing and counseling, pregnancy testing and counseling, and cancer and other health complication testing and counseling.  They provide these services at little cost to those who cannot afford to go elsewhere.

But this policy had nothing to do with Planned Parenthood.  This policy had everything to do with another service that Planned Parenthood provides: abortion.  Why else would Congress vote stripping much of the resources that Planned Parenthood needs to be able to perform the many great services it offers to the community?  Congress does not actually want to cause those who are pregnant, infected with venereal disease, or stricken with prostate or cervical cancer to go without care (and even awareness) for their situations.  This was another example of anti-abortion legislation being written under the guise of another issue.

In one article written about this issue, Congressmen are quoted using ridiculous statistics to support their case. Rep. Jean Schmidt of Ohio stated that thirty-three out of thirty-four pregnant woman who walk into Planned Parenthood leave with an abortion.  I shall not dispute the validity of the statement, but why else would a pregnant woman go to Planned Parenthood, for contraceptives?  Most women (families) who plan on going through with the birthing process end up dealing with hospitals for the duration of the pregnancy.  Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona said that ninety percent of services provided by Planned Parenthood are abortion (which he later recanted as just a joke).  The facts are that abortions only make up about three percent of services provided with the majority of provided services being preventative care and counseling.

This action being prevented says much about the Senate.  This decision shows that the Senate is actually pro-choice.  Even conservatives voted against this measure.  Actually no, just jokes.  In reality, this speaks more to the quantity and quality of service that Planned Parenthood provides.  In some of the Senators' eyes, the good of the services outweighs the bad of abortion.  In some of their eyes, a generation of healthy children with families to take good care of them outweighs a generation of children born into a life which will most likely see them in the same position as their parents were years before.