What Does Planned Parenthood Do, Exactly, That Deserves Federal Funding?

Planned Parenthood is raking in the bucks. For real. They make a ton of money. Yet they get over $500 million from the federal government every year… for what? They’re getting smarter and won’t tell you what things cost over the phone (I tried but was told I’d have to come in for a visit to get their price list). However, the Planned Parenthood in Kentucky hasn’t taken their price list offline as of today. Whenever Planned Parenthood is in the press they opine endlessly about the good they do for women. It’s all about the women and the services they offer, as if the services are free. They do cancer screenings (i.e. pap smears and manual breast exams — not mammograms), STI screenings, pregnancy tests, etc., all of which you could get at any health clinic in America that doesn’t also sell baby butchering. Here is what it would cost to get a “cancer screening” at the Planned Parenthood in Kentucky: The well-woman visit starts at $75-$85 just for the office visit. Add to that the pap smear lab tests and STI tests, pregnancy test, chlamydia test, hepatitis test and “other” STI tests and you’re looking at a minimum of $210 with the addendum that “other office fees may apply.” This does not include birth control. If you want that, it will run from $19 up to $900 depending on which method you want.

Image via Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky

Image via Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky

Abortions are the major money maker. The price of destroying life starts at $500 and goes up from there. What at Planned Parenthood is free for anyone? It doesn’t appear to be much of anything. (According to the girl on the phone, she said they use a sliding scale to determine what you pay…so…not free.) In all the literature, tax returns, and multitudinous articles I researched I could find no evidence of Planned Parenthood giving away its services on the behalf of poor women. So what are they doing with that 500 million tax dollars? It appears that they are using some of it to launch “education” programs to teach your preschoolers that their genitals don’t determine their gender. Or using sex toy experts to teach prepubescent children about sex in high schools. Is this something we need to subsidize with taxes? Are all the bridges safe? Are all the roads pothole free? It just seems awfully economically unsound (not to mention stupid) to spend this kind of money on the unscientific indoctrination of America’s youth. It’s also worth noting that the type of “sex education” Planned Parenthood is offering only encourages sexual activity which will lead to more unwanted pregnancies which will, in turn, increase their abortion business. Isn’t this a conflict of interest?

Yet, Congress can’t bring itself to defund them, though they’ve had the opportunity to do so several times. The idea that we need the government to subsidize sex education just signals parenting fails all over the place. If you aren’t directing your child’s sex education then you suck at your job as a parent. End of story. Don’t leave it up to the pointy-headed ivory tower dwellers to teach your kid about sex or they’ll come home denying their gender, lauding the joys of anal sex, and telling you that you aren’t using the right pronouns when you address them. Are there any parents still out there who don’t teach sex education at home just to undo what the public system is doing? Of all the things that should be home taught, sex and sexuality should top that list.

Let’s save the government (and us by default) $500 million a year and teach our kids about the birds and the bees the way we see fit, with our values and traditions, and let other parents do the same. Nobody needs Planned Parenthood to do the job actual parents are supposed to do. And before you say “what about kids whose parents won’t tell them?” — there’s MTV for that or any Super Bowl half-time show. Problem solved. You’re welcome.