I am old enough to remember the significant impact the development and availability of the “pill” had on women in the 1960s when contraception nationwide ranged from “illegal” to “clumsy but hopeful.” That impact cannot be overstated. The ability to more reliably control the spacing and size of families has given tremendous opportunity for young people to determine the success of their own futures.
Congress noticed this potential, and in 1970 with strong bipartisan support under President Richard Nixon, lawmakers passed Title X, a federal grant program dedicated to providing family planning and basic preventive care to uninsured, underinsured and low-income people, including birth control, STI testing and treatment, HIV services, and lifesaving cancer screenings. To be clear, Title X does not provide funding for abortion.
Since its inception, Title X has led to the creation of networks across the country of reproductive and sexual health care providers that provide care to all who walk through the doors, regardless of ability to pay. Planned Parenthood and other providers are often the only access to any kind of health care for their patients, especially in large rural states like Maine, and in urban areas where people struggle to find health care they can afford. The nonjudgmental treatment patients receive builds confidence and trust between patient and provider.
As a Republican, I am extremely proud of the bipartisan support that family planning received nationally as the new program was created and then in Maine as we established a system to deliver the services throughout the state. That spirit of bipartisanship continues — and must continue — as we fight efforts to undermine these critical programs.
I am horrified to see the extent to which my party has ceded a national microphone to an ardent and vocal opposition. A group of extremists who account for a minority view within the Republican Party have hijacked our legacy and set their sights on the nation’s leading reproductive and sexual health care provider, Planned Parenthood. They have proven that they will stop at nothing to restrict access to safe, legal abortion, and because that doesn’t seem to go far enough, they are pushing an agenda to interfere with basic health care, such as access to birth control and censoring basic medical information.
These efforts impact the lives of millions of Americans who depend upon Planned Parenthood for care. For women, men and young people without insurance or unable to pay for health care, Planned Parenthood is it. As a Republican, I see my support of Planned Parenthood in line with the party values I hold dear, from advocating for people’s rights to make their own medical decisions to supporting common-sense, cost-saving policies that improve the health of communities and reduce government spending.
For the Republican leaders determined to eliminate safe, legal abortion, these efforts to defund Planned Parenthood make absolutely no sense to me. If Planned Parenthood is forced to close health centers, people lose access to the health and education services that has led to decades of success in reducing unintended pregnancy rates and improving community health. If people lose these services what happens? Unintended pregnancy rates increase, STIs spread and HIV rates climb. It’s dangerous, costly and turns away people who would otherwise support our agenda to promote fiscal responsibility and personal autonomy. Where is the common sense?
The latest effort to undermine Title X, referred to as the “domestic gag rule,” would ban clinics that receive federal tax dollars from discussing, referencing or referring patients for abortion, undermining the essential trust that’s the foundation of the provider-patient relationship. Currently, providers must offer comprehensive counseling on all options, including prenatal care, adoption and abortion. This reversal goes way beyond lack of common sense to downright intrusion of government between the provider and patient.
Let me tell you, if we as Republicans continue to look the other way and wish this issue would simply go away, it won’t. Unless we speak up and make it clear that moral views on contraception or abortion are not partisan, but deeply personal. The decisions women make about a pregnancy can involve medical issues they struggle with on a personal and family level, and are as complex and varied as the people dealing with them.
I am grateful that providers like Planned Parenthood are willing to specialize in caring for a very vulnerable population. And while I strongly support reproductive choice, I am also grateful that the work organizations like Planned Parenthood do reduces the number of unintended pregnancies and, subsequently, the number of abortions. That is something we all should get behind.
Karen Stram is a former chair of the Maine Republican Party. She lives in Dresden.
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