In Defense of Planned Parenthood

This Saturday, New York Times Op-Ed columnist Ross Douthat commented on the public uproar surrounding the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure Foundation’s decision to discontinue funding to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and then in the face of mass public outcry, its reversal of this decision. In an attempt to defend the Komen Foundation, Douthat blamed the media bias for silencing the voices of Komen’s supporters. I take issue with both of his main arguments: that newsrooms consistently painted Planned Parenthood as an organization completely devoid of politics and that Komen deserves the right to choose which organizations it funds, whether its reasons for doing so are political, anti-choice or none of the above.

In arguing his first point, Douthat wrote: “In many newsrooms and television studios across the country, Planned Parenthood is regarded as…an apolitical, high-minded humanitarian institution whose work no rational person – and certainly no self-respecting woman – could possibly question or oppose.” He continues on to explain that PPFA is, in fact, controversial and the main stream media is mistaken to treat it as free of controversy. To this point: Simply because an organization’s work is controversial does not make it any less deserving of public respect—or private support—than one whose work is not politically relevant. Douthat also suggested that Planned Parenthood’s efforts to publicly diminish the role that abortion services play in its work are disingenuous and misleading. But what PPFA says is true: The organization is more than an abortion services provider, providing mammogram referrals, tests for sexually transmitted infections, birth control and comprehensive sexuality education. It is a comprehensive health care center for women and men, specifically helping low-income individuals. In a nation in which low-income women are often unable to access basic health care, PPFA provides a solution.

To Douthat’s second point: Of course Komen has a right to provide grants to whichever organizations it chooses. At the same time, Komen’s supporters and other members of the public have a right to respond to funding decisions with which they vehemently disagree, particularly when they see a champion of women’s health making a decision that would undermine the ability of women to access key health services.

Finally, the premise of Douthat’s op-ed is that the media silenced the voices of anti-choice advocates in this debate. However, anti-choice advocates have a remarkably loud voice in this country in comparison to the percentage of the population that they represent. In a July 2011 Gallup poll (the same poll Douthat cites in the first line of his column), 77 percent of Americans stated that they think abortion should be legal under some or all circumstances.

As I reflect on the issues that have been brought to light this past week, I become more convinced that Douthat’s concerns are not the ones we should grapple with as a society. Instead, we should consider the fact that abortion has become one of the nation’s most closeted issues—and we must change that fact and bring this issue into the public conversation. I am reminded of the  groundbreaking episode of “Maude” in the 1970s in which the title character gets an abortion. In the episode, the title character’s adult daughter assures her: “When you were growing up [abortion] was illegal, and it was dangerous and it was sinister and you’ve never gotten over that…When you were young, abortion was a dirty world. It’s not anymore.”

I wish that these words seemed relevant today. But if the events of the last week have taught us anything, it’s that “abortion” is still a dirty word, one that can inspire the media firestorm that took over much of the news cycle last week and frustrated Douthat to the point that he wrote this op-ed. We are grateful that the Komen Foundation has restored Planned Parenthood’s ability to receive its grants, but in the long term, we still have much work to do.  

Join the Reform Movement’s campaign to generate thousands of thank you letters to the Komen Foundation, supporting its renewed commitment to working with Planned Parenthood and others on behalf of women’s health. Make your voice heard and
thank the Komen Foundation for funding PPFA and the work that it does by sending a letter to the Komen Foundation today!