Northwestern students, Planned Parenthood executives and NU Women’s Center employees alike rejoiced Thursday when a congressional bill that would have cut funding for the national organization failed.
“Ultimately the right wing tried to treat this like it was some kind of abortion issue,” said D’Laney Gielow, a Communication sophomore who is interning at Planned Parenthood this summer. “No one acknowledges that that’s only about 3 percent of what Planned Parenthood does.”
During the 2011 Congressional budget debate, Republicans and Democrats clashed over federal funding for Planned Parenthood, among other issues. Republicans wanted to stop funding the organization because it provides abortions, which they say should not be supported with government money.
“We are the largest provider of family planning and birth control in the country,” said Carole Brite, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Illinois. “No one else does more to provide access to affordable birth control and prevent the need for abortion.”
Planned Parenthood of Illinois has more than 17 health centers in the state and serves about 60,000 women annually, Brite said.
As part of the eleventh-hour deal between the two factions, the debate was extended until last Thursday, when the House and Senate voted to continue funding Planned Parenthood as part of a vote to cut $4.4 trillion from the national deficit while altering Medicare and Medicaid.
Students on campus participated in the nationwide campaign to protect the organization. Many changed their Facebook profile pictures to flyers stating, “I love Planned Parenthood and so should you” or took pictures of themselves holding signs that read “I stand with Planned Parenthood.”
Gielow, who is involved with Sexual Health and Assault Peer Educators, said she did not want to publicly post pictures of herself with the signs because she has very traditional family members who would not support her views.
“If they found out I’m working at Planned Parenthood this summer, they’d probably disown me,” she said.
While the Women’s Center was unable to get involved in the debate because they cannot support partisan issues, Director of Programs Cara Bell said she thought funding for Planned Parenthood was crucial.
“I’m most worried about who’s going to fill the void if Planned Parenthood isn’t funded,” she said. “No one has that answer.”
She said she has never referred a NU student to Planned Parenthood in her one year at the center, but it would be one of a variety of options she would recommend to someone who needed information.
Not all students agree with Gielow and Bell’s opinions. Adam Seidel, vice president of College Republicans, said while the funding is not the main component of overall budget cuts it is one viable option to reduce them.
“Planned Parenthood does good. That may be true, but then why do they have to do abortions?” the Weinberg senior said.”If such a small portion of the organization’s funding goes towards abortions, they should simply not offer abortions and that would solve much of the problem.”
Brite said about 3 percent of Planned Parenthood’s services involved abortions. Planned Parenthood offers free exams, birth control and STI testing. The organization is the only health care provider for about two-thirds of the women who use its services, according to Brite. She said although the funding debate has caused worry, it has also been good publicity that most of the organization’s services do not involve abortions.
“We don’t think our fight is over, at least for the next couple of years until the next election,” Brite said.
