Someone much wiser than me once said that if you want to get to the bottom of any problem involving people, particularly government; then you must “follow the money.”
Recently, Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana signed the only bill in the nation that restricts companies that perform abortions from receiving state funding. This legislation severely limits the abortion industry in Indiana.
There is no doubt that House Bill 1205 caused a national controversy when signed into law by Gov. Daniels. The national and local media provided ample opportunity for those who support abortion to voice their opposition to this legislation. Much of the outcry against this legislation seems to center around the health services provided by companies like Planned Parenthood for low income women. In fact, many of those opposed state that this legislation will limit Planned Parenthood’s efforts to offer health services to minority women who are Medicaid recipients.
However, there is another side to this story not often sought by the media from those of us who believe in a child’s inherent right to live, in spite of the parent’s circumstances. Our story is often shouted down by hurled accusations from the opposition that range from intolerance, gender bias and even racism. How unfortunate that we seem to lack the ability to discuss issues based on their merits, rather than sinking into the abyss of name calling, personal attacks and even political gamesmanship.
Many opponents of this legislation say that Gov. Daniels only signed the legislation in order to promote his presidential aspirations. True or not, it is really immaterial to the foundation of whether this legislation benefits the citizens of Indiana. It is the job of our executive, legislative and judicial branches of government to act in the best interest of the majority of the citizens without causing discriminatory harm to those in the minority on any given issue. In other words, legislation should never infringe upon the basic human rights of people, whether they agree with the legislation or not.
To those who contend that restricting abortion infringes upon a woman’s right to do what she will with her body, I respond thusly; everyone has a right to control their own body, whether male or female. The problem does not lie within the veracity of that statement; on the contrary, the problem lies in our definition of a right. A right is any act committed that does not confer an obligation on another in its performance. The act of abortion violates this in that it confers death upon the baby in its performance.
The real story behind this hailstorm of opposition from Planned Parenthood is how this affects their financial bottom line, despite their rather deft efforts to portray themselves as banner carriers for the health of low income women. Accordingly Becky Cockrum, president of Planned Parenthood of Indiana said, “There’s certainly a chance we will have to decide that we cannot see Medicaid patients unless they are able to somehow pay for their services themselves.” This sort of veiled threat certainly seems to imply that if it were not for Planned Parenthood, these women would not have these services.
This is indicative of the public relations strategy for companies like Planned Parenthood. They craftily use media to make us believe that we can’t live without them. The truth is that Planned Parenthood makes very little money from offering Medicaid recipients the health services they need like birth control or gynecological exams. The real value for them and any business is the relationship built with customers. If a customer trusts a business, in this case a woman trusts Planned Parenthood, they tend to become repeat customers. So it is easy to move from receiving basic health care to having an abortion if and when that time of emotional stress occurs surrounding that decision. This is where Planned Parenthood makes their money.
While it is true that abortion only accounts for 3% of Planned Parenthood’s services, let’s take a moment and consider the income that abortion generates for this organization that desires your tax dollars. According to Planned Parenthood’s fact sheet released in February 2011, they performed 332,278 abortions in 2009, a 2.5% increase from the previous year. The conservative average cost estimate is about $200 per procedure. This leaves a conservatively estimated total of $66,455,600.00 earned each year from abortion.
It is this fact that leads us to believe that one reason Planned Parenthood spends incredible sums of money fighting legislation like HB 1205 is the profitability of abortion for their company. It may be their most profitable product. From a strictly business perspective, one can understand their desire to hold on to these dollars and profits. However, this begs the question as to whether we should pour public funds into a private company who profits from the death of babies.
If the medical services were most important, Planned Parenthood could easily restore the 3 million dollars lost in state funding by refusing to do abortions. In addition, Medicaid recipients have the option to use well over 100 doctors for gynecological services in Lake County alone.
Even though we may and should often question the motives of our leaders; occasionally they actually look out for the least of us, the unborn.
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