Planned Parenthood beneficial to women, should not be associated with illegal operations
This week, Stevan Novakovic wrote about how the Kermit Gosnell case “illustrates” a lack of regulation in the abortion industry and attempted to associate Planned Parenthood with this criminal. It is necessary to make the following distinction: Planned Parenthood is not associated with Gosnell in any way, and its clinics adhere strictly to policies and procedures required by state and federal law. Its centers are committed to providing high-quality services to all those who need them, including cancer screenings, sexually transmitted disease testing and contraception.
Gosnell was an unlicensed doctor in an unlicensed facility. Women, especially low-income women, went to his clinic because they had no other choice. They were forced to go to Gosnell’s clinic because there was no safe alternative, often because they could not afford a legal first-trimester abortion. Women have been mistreated by our health care system and by politicians, who have stigmatized abortion and forced clinic closures.
Novakovic also discussed a statement made by Planned Parenthood that claimed new regulations would not hinder unsafe abortion practices. Clinics that provide reproductive health care are already very highly regulated. New regulations of abortion providers that place arbitrary restrictions on abortion facilities, such as regulating the size of rooms and hallways in clinics, do nothing to make patients safer and instead, sometimes force existing clinics to close. When existing clinics close, dangerous operations like Gosnell’s pop up. Planned Parenthood helps ensure abortions, when needed, are safe, but also works to end the demand for abortion by distributing information about contraception and reproductive health.
— Meghan Aubry, third-year political science and women’s and gender studies student