How Planned Parenthood Works

Planned Parenthood is a controversial organization that provides reproductive healthcare to women and men. Join Molly and Cristen as they examine Planned Parenthood's history, controversies and services in this podcast from HowStuffWorks.com.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.
It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff Mom never told you?
From House to abords dot Com. Hey, Aaron, Welcome to
the podcast. This is Kristen and this is Molly, So Molly.

(00:20):
There has been a lot in the news recently over
this whole issue of healthcare reform accession, essentially whether or
not we are going to end up with some kind
of publicly funded healthcare in the United States, And in
the past week or so, the debate over this has
really focused on the issue of abortion because the House

(00:44):
Energy and Commerce Committee passed an amendment recently that requires
whatever healthcare reform bill ends up being passed to offer
at least one plan that will cover abortion and in
one plan that does not. Okay, So abortion opponents are
up in arms about this idea of what they're calling

(01:05):
quote unquote taxpayer funded abortion and whether or not, you know,
in a couple of years down the road and we
actually have public healthcare, whether or not our tax dollars
are going to go to abortions, and if that means
that all these women are just going to start going
out and having abortions willy nilly, and it's going to
be the moral downfall of the US. It's been, it's
been a pretty pretty heated debate. Man, that that synopsis

(01:29):
makes me glad I've been on vacation for most of
this debate. Yeah, there's been. There's been a lot of
a lot of stuff. And and one thing I found
interesting and this, and this was from Kathleen Sibelius, who's
the U S Secretary of Health and Human Services. She
pointed out that right now, the federal employee health benefits,
which are you know, federal employees get, such as congress

(01:50):
men and women, Uh, the the health coverage they get
covers abortion services only in cases of rape, incest, and
endangerment to the mother's life. And a lot of times
private healthcare plans, private insurance plans, i should say, do
not fully cover abortion services as well. And since there's
not a lot of private coverage for um abortion services,

(02:12):
that leaves places like Planned Parenthood and other public clinics
as the main option for for women who who need
reproductive healthcare. And this is where I can chime in
and help you, Christian, because I recently wrote an article
about how planned Parenthood works. Yeah, they planned parenthood has
come up a lot in this discussion about this tax

(02:34):
fayer funded abortion because you know, people are saying that
planned parenthood is going to get all this money from
you know, all these taxpayer dollars um. But from the
from your article, I learned that the government already funds
a lot of planned parenthood. So I thought it would
be a good time to really talk about what planned
parenthood does and whether or not it is just you know,

(02:55):
kind of your neighborhood abortion clinic or if there are
you know, other serve us is that they provide. So
let's dive in, let's get to it. So, you know,
I don't know what kind of preconceptions people bring to
this podcast when they listen to it. I bet there's
some people out there who think that planned parenthood is
the greatest thing since sliced bread, and I bet there
are people out there who think it's a baby killing

(03:17):
machine for lack of a better term. But the fact
of the matter is that one in four American women
has used planned parenthood services at some point in her life.
It's pretty staggering, right, But that does not mean that
one in four American women has used planned Parenthood services
to get an abortion, Oh, of course not. So let's
talk about all the services that they provide at their

(03:38):
approximately eight sixty health centers across the country. Start off
with Molly, about the thirty eight percent of Planned parenthoods
services focus solely on contraception, and that's handing out condoms
or birth control pills or even more permanent options like
tubiligation in the sectomy. And if you need a morning

(03:59):
after hill emergency contraception, it's available there as well. Yes, um,
but it's not just contraception. If you, you know, have
a slip up with the condom and end up with
a sexually transmitted disease or infection, you can get testing
and treating at Plant Parenthood. In two thousand six, that
made up about thirty of their services. And then in

(04:20):
addition to that, you have cancer screens and preventions, uh
and including PABs, mirrors, breast exams, colonoscopies, et cetera. And
and that in two thousand and six made up about
So we still haven't even gotten to abortion, and we're
at what forty thirty twenty about its fun to watch

(04:42):
Christian do math on the fly? Um, So ten percent
of the services are just sort of general health things
related to pregnancy. We're talking about pregnancy tests, prenatal care,
and fertility treatment. And it's only when we get down
to the single digits three percent that we come to
abortion procedures. Three percent of plan Parents are since in
two thousand six were abortion procedures. May not sound like

(05:03):
a lot, but that does make up in the United
States about two nine seven hair and fifty abortions in
two thousand and six, and that makes Planned Parenthood the
largest provider of abortions in the US, which is, you know,
it makes sense that they would be, uh, the number
one target for abortion critics. Yeah, and you know, part
of the problem I think that a lot of people
have is that when they keep breaking down these numbers,

(05:24):
referrals to adoption agencies made up less than one percent
of Planned Parents services. So I think a lot of
critics think that a woman comes in and says that
she wants an abortion, and Planned Parent whoods like, Okay,
you made your choice, we're going to help that help
that happen. Whereas you know, other organizations might like to
see more adoption referrals, more counseling before an abortion, maybe
a three D sonogram, right and uh and kind of
along those lines of things that abortion critics are kind

(05:48):
of pushing for, like the three D sonograms and mandatory
rating period. Planned Parenthood also acts as an advocate and
lobbyists for these reproductive issues UM, such as defending a
women's right to an abortion without what they call unnecessary
obstacles such as the mandatory waiting period. UM. They also

(06:09):
oppose pharmacy refusal of contraceptives. UM. That's been a big
issue I remember the past couple of years of whether
or not UM pharmacists can refuse women the morning after
pill for instance. UM. And they also support comprehensive sex
ed in schools and that all patients have a right
to privacy, particularly from the government, that they shouldn't be

(06:30):
able to meddle in our medical affairs. Right. And I
do want to her mind our male listeners out there
that while advertisements for Planned Parenthood and my experience usually
feature you know, a young woman, there are tons of
things available to males there. They do a lot of
health screening for men UM, everything from a colon cancer
screening into a jock itch exam. So reproductive health effects everyone,

(06:53):
not just women. I think that's important to say. Yes.
It is important to say only because, as my mom
always said, takes two to tango. Yes. And if you
can't find your local Planned Parenthood, they have tons of
information online. Uh They've got teen wire dot com, which
is geared specifically toward teenagers. All their information about UM,
sexual education, reproductive health, that's all online. And again we

(07:15):
are only focusing sort of on the US centric, but
for our international listeners, Planned Parenthood International has a ton
of information as well. Yes, so all these great things
for you know, women and men's reproductive health UM. At
the same time, planned parenthood is not without it's more
controversial aspects, right because abortion sex health is always going

(07:39):
to be controversial. Let's go back to the beginning of
the nineteen hundreds when Planned Parenthood was getting at start. Yes,
Margaret's Singer is the founder of Planned Parenthood, and basically
Margaret Singers story was her mom gave birth to eighteen children,
I think eleven of who actually lived, and she's from

(07:59):
a very poor family. UM. Her mother had all of
these children, she couldn't afford to support all of them,
and I think her mother ended up dying young. I
think around the age of forty and she in her
in these poor neighborhoods, singer notice um other women seeking
back alley abortions and women who were like her mother,

(08:20):
having children that they couldn't afford. And so she championed
the cause of contraceptives to prevent unintended pregnancies. Right, Saya
didn't jump to abortionist silk solution for this. First, she
just wanted to distribute information about contraceptives, but she was
up against something called the Comstock clause, which made it

(08:40):
illegal to send up steam materials through the mail and
included in the substandity clause where things on uh contraceptives
or preventing conception UM. So then she opened the first
birth control clinic in Brooklyn in nineteen sixteen, and I
think that might have been even after she had been
arrested based on those Compstock laws for distributing um sex

(09:03):
said information and that clinic UM and her American Birth
Control League would eventually become Planned Parenthood, And she did
all sorts of things over the years to um. You know,
she's sometimes called the birth control Martyr because she sort
of went out there and stood on the line for
women who needed birth control and planned Parenthood helped finance
testing the birth control pill um As soon as it

(09:26):
was approved, Planned parenthoods out there trying to get women
to take the pill. And you know, at the time,
you know, as time goes on, it's not that planned
parenthood was out of sync with the national agenda. Interesting
to me, and I was researching this since I wasn't
alive back then, but President Lyndon Johnson identified a lack
of family planning as one of the four most pressing
health issues facing the country at the time. Yeah, and

(09:49):
then following up with Richard Nixon, established the Title ten
of Public Health Services Act, which made contraceptives available even
to those people who couldn't have word to pay for it.
So we're we're getting closer to this idea of the
free public health clinic. Right. And you know, if you're
if you're familiar when Nixon and Johnson lineup in American history,

(10:11):
you know that we're starting to get into the late
sixties early seventies when people became a lot more liberal
and so thinking way, you know, if we can all
have birth control to prevent pregnancy, then reproductive health obviously
extends to abortion, so that you can end a pregnancy. Yeah,
and then things get a lot more politicized in nineteen
seventy three with the very famous court case Roe v. Wade,

(10:33):
and Planned parenthood up until then had been opposed to,
of course, unsafe abortion, and and they championed four Roe v.
Wade so that women would have the option for legal
safe abortions as opposed to those the back l abortions
that that singer you know, witness growing up right. And
so around that time when it does become heavily politicized,

(10:53):
the U S. Republican and Democratic Party make abortion and
anti abortion rights part of their platform. Obviously, Republicans holding
up an anti abortion plank and the Democrat Party going
for abortion rights. Yeah. And so the government funding has
kind of shifted back and forth, you know, the give
and take, depending on whether there's been more Republican control
or more Democratic control. And that's not to say that

(11:15):
there's no such thing as, um, you know, pro choice
Republicans or anti choice Democrats. Um, but it's still one
of the main party platforms. Yeah. When we had Reagan
in office, he restricted Title ten that that Nix and
I put in place, and he also created the Global
Gag Rule, which pulled any US family planning funds from

(11:36):
international organizations that provided information on abortion, even if they
weren't using that money specifically to provide that information, if
it was just you know, office costs, if they talked
about abortion, that money was pulled. So that essentially defunded
the International Planned Parenthood Federation. UM. But then you know, basically,
when a Democrat comes into office, they reverse it. When

(11:58):
Republican comes back, they reinform or sit. It's just going
to keep it seems like, you know, flipping back and
forth to paying on who's in office right now. Outside
of the political realm UM planned parenthood obviously has a
ton of grassroots support. UH. It's pretty common to see
whenever there's some kind of controversial reproductive health builds up
for up for a vote, you'll see plenty of UH

(12:20):
protests and marches UM, you know, both for and against
UM planned parenthood. So we discussed a little bit why
a woman might want to protest for the issues planned
parenthood supports. UM. You know, obviously, Chris and I support
reproductive health, yeah, and safe, safe reproductive health for women,
take responsibility of your body. Yeah, But what about the

(12:43):
other side. Let's look at the criticism leveled at planned parenthood,
right because you you think that, um, you know, when
you think of people who are opposed to planned parenthood,
and immediately your mind goes to just anti abortion advocates.
I mean, I think something planned parenthood does well as
if they're going to embrace a platform, let's say, and
that the government has no hold over a woman's body,

(13:03):
do they embrace it a little too wholeheartedly and ignore
just sort of how people feel about things? You know?
Do they ignore things that women might be in favor of,
like you know, twenty four hour waiting periods before an abortion.
Do they do they take their stances too far? Yeah,
that's what Um. A lot of the planned parenthood critics
would say that a planned parenthood is simply too jumpy.

(13:25):
They give too much access, too quick for a woman
to just make a split decision about um, a pregnancy. Right,
and you can ignore the fact that their business model
does depend on people having sex needing birth control and
or an abortion. Yeah and uh and along those same lines, um,
other critics would argue that planned parenthood therefore encourages teens

(13:48):
to have sex without understanding the consequences. You know, they
have all of this sex set information, like very frank
discussion about you know what to do and you know,
makes sex sound like a very natural thing for teens
to do, and that makes a lot of Um, they
might make a lot of parents uncomfortable, right with the
idea of plan parenthood, that they that their child could

(14:09):
go out and have sex without them knowing and then
go to Planet parenthood and get birth control or an
abortion if necessary. Right. I think it essentially comes down
to whether you believe people are going to have sex
out of wedlock or not. Yeah. Um, but like let's tay,
I think that also the problem is that planned Parenthood
is in favor of choice as long as your choice
agrees with them. Like, you know, there's this thing called

(14:31):
the right of conscience. You know, you were talking earlier
about the pharmacist who might refuse to fill a prescription
for birth control because they're morally opposed to it. There
are doctors who might refuse to perform an abortion because
their religious beliefs don't sync up with that, And plan
Parenthood argues that, you know, these doctors don't have the
right to exercise a right of conscience, whereas women have
this right to choose immediately you know it's it's sort

(14:52):
of you know, it's a it's a double edged sword.
It is a double edged sword, I'd say, and um.
And then you do have instances that do not reflect
well on Planned Parenthood. For instance, UM in Indiana in
two thousand eight, a university student posed as a thirteen
year old girl who called up Planned Parenthood UM, pretending

(15:15):
that she was she was worried about a possible pregnancy
with a thirty one year old boyfriend, and a videotape
of the encounter UM showed the Planned Parenthood worker telling
telling the you know, supposed thirteen year old girl to
stop telling her the ages of those involved so that
she wouldn't have to report the couple of child Protective
Services for statutory rape and so that you know, Planned

(15:39):
Parenthood spy turned around and said, look at what they're doing.
They're they're standing by statutory rape and trying to cover
it up. And then another really disturbing thing that came
out UM the same year, two thousand eight, in Idaho,
there's this anti abortion group that was making taped phone
calls to Planned Parenthood offices UM, and they would ask
if their donations to the organization, and because private donations

(16:01):
do make up a large part of Plan Parents funding,
they would ask if their donations could be earmarked for
black women's abortions. And this is a quote here, not
in my own words. The caller said the less black
kids out there, the better. And according to the recording
and according to the paper who reported it, UM plan
Parents response was nervous laughter, followed by the quote understandable. Understandable.

(16:23):
And when you bring up race and association with Plan Parenthood,
you're getting into a really sticky subject for the organization.
And it goes back to the founder, Margaret Singer. Yes,
this is one of this issue of UM possible or
allegations i should say, of racism and UM more specifically,
eugenics has long been an issue for Planned Parenthood. It's

(16:45):
one of the number one things that people UM point
out when they are criticizing the organization because UM. When
Margaret Singer was campaigning for the use of birth control
in the early nineteen hundreds, she made many statements about
how UM crowded populations would be better off without quote
like unwanted or unfit babies. And then you know, by

(17:07):
extension that meant you know, a lot of these babies
who are being born, and specifically low income families, So
that made it seem like a Singer was advocating kind
of getting rid of the the lower masses who who
really aren't contributing, and the people she deemed unfit. And
she did hang out, she went to Europe, and she
did hang out with a lot of well known agenesists,

(17:29):
including some some Nazis, who obviously are famed for wanting
to to wipe out the people they deemed unfit. So
it's definitely something that's followed Plan Parenthood around. You know,
critics say that Plan Parent has never come out specifically
and said, you know, we don't support Margaret Sanger's beliefs
on that. In fact, they give out awards with Singer's name,
the presidents of Plan Parent who usually say something like,

(17:49):
you know, I'm proud to be following in Margaret Singer's footsteps,
which leads critics to say, you know, this is a
completely racist organization. They're just trying to give abortions to
people that they don't want running around. You know, it's
it's sort of a weird situation the organization's in. But morely,
I have a feeling when these women or men say
that they are proud to fallow and following Margaret singers footsteps,

(18:12):
they certainly aren't referring to any sort of fringe ideas
about eugenics, but more this idea of providing safe choices
for women's reproductive health and men's. Yeah, and I think
that's the bigger thing to take away from Plan Parenthood
in my opinion. You know, we can focus on all
these criticisms that are lobbied at it, and I think

(18:32):
it's important to know that they're out there. But at
the end of the day, it's a great option for
women especially you know, if you just get out of
college and you don't have that student health insurance anymore,
and you may not have that first job with health
insurance yet, plan parenthood is a great place to go
because you can pay on sliding scales, some services are free. UM.
So it's a really great place. It might be your

(18:53):
primary health care giver for those first few years out
of college. Right because if you look back at those
statistics that we started out with earlier, UM, planned Parenthood
does the bulk of their work has nothing to do
with abortions at all. It's going in and getting your
annual PAPS mirror and breast exam or guys, if you

(19:13):
need that jock itch test, there is a place to
go where you don't have to rely on private health
insurance plans to UH to pay for it, right. So
it'll definitely be interesting to see how the health insurance
debate shakes out by the time this podcast publishers. Who
knows where that debate will be. But I think that
we can count on planned parenthood standing at the forefront

(19:33):
of these issues for women and making sure that women
have access to healthcare. And I think that that's important.
That's important for I think anyone who listens to stuff
Mom never told you. Absolutely speaking of people who listen
to stuff Mom never told you, how about listener mail?
Listen mail, and today's listror mail comes from Yuki, who

(19:56):
listened to the podcast about whether sharks can smell blood.
Yuki's an avid diver, and so she was especially excited
to hear about the diving on the show because she
hopes that more women start diving as a result. She
thinks it's a little lonely being the only girl on
a dive boat sometimes, um and hopefully you won't find
this too private for me to share, but there have
been times when her period comes smack in the middle

(20:16):
of a dive trip, and after some research on online
scuba form she found something called the menstrual cups. It's
not easily found in the US, but there are soft
silicon cups that even search They can be reused for
a number of years, and she thinks they're more environmentally
responsible than tampons. So since she tried it for the
first time on a dive trip, she's a huge fan.
She's never been attacked by shark. Thanks you. And I

(20:37):
think since we are talking about the con Shark small
Blood episode, I would like to point out that we
have gotten a couple of emails from me guys about
Molly and Me using the word gross to describe menstrual blood,
and I think I respond to those emails saying, you
know what, you are absolutely right, because these women were
pointing out the fact that we should not describe the

(20:59):
not roule functions of our body as gross. It is
what happens and we should be proud of it and
discuss it openly and honestly. So, ladies, periods are not gross.
I was wrong and if I send a grossed out.
It might have been because I'm grossed out by sharks
attacking me. Yeah, just blood. It was pretty much just

(21:20):
a traumatic podcast altogether. Molly's only just now recovered from
from that podcast and shark We all together, yes, So
if you have any questions or comments or just random
musings that you would like to send to me and Molly,
please feel free to email us. We love email at
Mom's stuff at how stuff works dot com. And if

(21:42):
you want to check out what we're doing during the week,
we have a blog and it's called how to Stuff.
And if you want to read Molly's fantastic article called
how planned Parenthood Works, you can also find that on
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