Now, for those of you who think Planned Parenthood has every right to exist and do what it wants but should not receive a dime of federal money, I’d like to try to persuade you that that is in fact a pretty radical view if you were to take it consistently across the board.

The federal government funds all kinds of local and regional health-services providers. It provides funds to hospitals (except those that refuse federal funding like many Catholic hospitals), regional health clinics that treat all manner of illnesses and public-health issues, and state and local government facilities. Should the federal government stop funding all of those? …

And if you think that’s okay but funding for Planned Parenthood is not, well, why? Because of abortion? But no public funds go to pay for abortion. Public funds pay for breast-cancer and cervical-cancer screenings, and for other non-controversial family planning services – for mostly poor women, but for all women who need these services. Should the federal government not support that?

And if it should but not via PP, then why should PP be singled out? … PP receives just 11% of all federal family-planning dollars that are dispersed to clinics and hospitals across the US. So if PP should be X’d out, does that mean these other places should be too?

~Michael Tomasky, The Guardian, April 27

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