A firestorm of fury and praise raged nationwide on Friday, Sept. 18, when it was announced that the House of Representatives had voted 241-187 to strip Planned Parenthood of its federal funding.
The success of this motion relied heavily on video clips released this past summer alleging that Planned Parenthood sells fetal tissue and body parts from abortion procedures for profit.
While no federal, state, or independent investigation of these clips have been able to hold up to legal scrutiny, Congress pushed for a one-year-freeze of the organization pending investigation into the its use of federal funds.
“I think that it’s a good idea for them to investigate more,” said Biology major Megan Gallagher. “I think that if there’s so much going on with abortion and what they actually do…They do still get funding from other places, and they can still provide the necessities that people need for their daily lives.”
Dominic Ventresca, a Computer Science major, agreed: “I think that it’s great that they’re defunding Planned Parenthood. I just feel that if Planned Parenthood is doing what they are doing and how they are doing it…I mean, they’re making their own money already, why does the government need to fund them?”
Planned Parenthood does indeed have other sources of revenue. In its annual report from 2013-2014, the organization stated that it received $391.8 million from private organizations, $305.3 million from non-government services, and $77.9 million from other sources.
However, the biggest contributor to Planned Parenthood revenue is federal funding, which was reported as $528.4 million in the same annual report. These funds come from Medicaid and the Title X Family Planning Program, both of which have severe restrictions on how they can be used.
The first program, Medicaid, covers health care costs for low-income individuals: in regards to Planned Parenthood, this means Medicaid can be used for any services they provide except abortion. Protected by the Hyde Amendment, Medicaid funds can only be used for an abortion in cases which the woman has been raped, a victim of incest, or has a physical disorder, illness or injury that would place her life at risk.
The second program, Title X Family Planning Program cannot be used to provide abortions at all: according to its webpage on the federal Health and Human services website, it’s “the only federal grant program dedicated solely to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services”.
Those services include screening for cervical and breast cancers, pregnancy, STDs, providing FDA-approved contraception, and family planning counseling.

Those programs are indeed provided by Planned Parenthood. In the 2013-2014 annual report, the service provided most by the organization was STI and STD screening and treatment (42 percent), followed by contraception (34 percent), and then by other women’s services (11 percent).
The “other women’s services” include pregnancy tests and prenatal care only: abortion services are a separate category that only accounted for 3 percent of their services. Cancer screenings and other services, which include referrals, accounted for a combined total of 10 percent.
These services are why Professor Diane Rice, who teaches Criminal Law and Political Science here at Bucks, disagrees with the notion to defund Planned Parenthood.
“I just think, as far as Planned Parenthood is concerned, to totally defund an organization that does things like provide free mammograms and other testing for women and provides contraception…is kind of like cutting the meat without trimming the fat,” she explained.
“If you want to defund that part of it that goes to research or abortions, that’s one thing, but to completely defund it is something else. I think they need to take a more serious
Another Computer Science major, Josh Golden, took this view as well “I think that the defunding is totally wrong. [Planned Parenthood] is already an entity, so it’s been developed very much…it has done so much good,” he stated. “For me, as an advocate of equal rights, [defunding] is a shot to the heart.”
While these factions and their views don’t differ from the national furor over this decision, everyone did agree on one thing: the government should not shut down over this controversy.
Members of the Senate have promised to filibuster the bill and the President has vowed to veto it, putting the Congress on the extreme defensive for the third year in a row.
“I think that the government shutdown is a little childish simply because of what happened the last time,” said Graphic Design major, Janai Wise. “They closed all the monuments down, they wouldn’t let veterans in to see their own war memorials. If they do stuff like that again, I think that is exceedingly ridiculous.”
Unfortunately, that is the impact: as in the government shutdown of 2013, the Smithsonian and national parks (including memorials) do get shuttered for the shutdown’s duration.
The military, FBI, TSA, Border Patrol, and the US Postal Service will remain operational, but other federal programs will likely reduce their staff greatly as a cautionary measure. The longer the shutdown lasts also affects when federal workers get paid: their paychecks, usually delivered biweekly, may take weeks to get.
Federal benefit programs, however, will not be affected: social security, Medicare, food stamps, and Medicaid will be disbursed and utilized as normal.
Since Medicaid will not feel the sting of the shutdown, Planned Parenthood will be able to provide its Medicaid-approved services. All the while, it’s 700 clinics—including the three here in Bucks County—wait to hear their financial fate.