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Brynne Kuberski

Kevin Kelleher

ENG 102- 008

9 March 2018

Should the Government defund Planned Parenthood?

These 5 sources will help gain insight into women’s reproductive rights in America,

which will help explain why there is a considerable need for Planned Parenthood and all that this

company provides for women, to be more specific, low-income women that Planned Parenthood

takes in with open and supportive arms. The main reason why the government would want to cut

federal funding for this organization is because this organization gives abortions. I intend this

research paper to be my voice in proving how this company plays a substantial role in women’s

reproductive and preventive healthcare rights, and that this matter stretches way beyond the

government.
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Annotated Bibliography

Laguens, Dawn. “Planned Parenthood and the Next Generation of Feminist Activists.” Feminist

Studies, vol. 39, no. 1, 2013, pp. 187–191. JSTOR, JSTOR,

www.jstor.org/stable/23719309.

This source has a vast number of topics being discussed throughout the newspaper

article. First, it speaks about this generation of young women becoming feminists and one

of the main reasons is because women feel they are being stripped of their basic

reproductive health rights. It speaks about social media handles being supportive of

Planned Parenthood and how powerful the activist’s voices are on social media and

throughout the world. The magazine article mentions the topic of how younger people

have been showing up to vote in larger numbers and the reason for this is because they

want improved women’s reproductive rights. Another prevalent topic that this source

covers is people don’t like to be labeled whether they are pro-life or pro-choice. Being

pro-life or pro-choice is not ideal because people believe that the idea of keeping or not

keeping a baby is a personal decision. There are a shocking number of circumstances as

to why an abortion could be performed. This article is wrapped up by tackling the idea

that we as Americans need to be more empathetic and supportive since we don’t have any

clue of an individual’s personal situation.

Planned Parenthood and the Next Generation of Feminist Activists can answer

my research question easily. It shows how women are speaking up and being brave for

their rights. The statistics contained in this source can be a strong addition to my research

paper. The idea that America’s youth is no longer comfortable with being labeled,
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especially by pro-life or pro-choice, is a sign that abortion is personal and truly depicts

the circumstances that a woman can be in before making a tough decision. Planned

Parenthood sees this first-hand, and they are the ones that have to deal with these women.

Dawn Laguens, the Executive Vice President and Chief Experience Officer of

Planned Parenthood, is the author of this source. One bias may be that she is high up in

the company and is for abortion, however, she also experiences these women’s story

first-hand and knows exactly what goes on in these facilities. This is absolutely a reliable

source because of who wrote it, and because it came off a reliable database, Jstor. It is

also reliable because Feminist Studies Inc published it and they have done much research

into feminism and women’s studies.

To conclude about this source, I could without a doubt enter a conversation into

this topic and express my views because I too, am a young woman. It is inspiring to see

my generation becoming involved in our political rights and actually having a voice. We

are challenging the older generation, who are stereotypically not fond of Planned

Parenthood, and times are changing.

Milligan, Susan. "States Forge Ahead on Abortion and Birth Control Legislation." The Report,

from U.S. News & World Report, 11 Aug. 2017. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A500506520/OVIC?u=tusc49521&xid=54a6afc7.

Accessed 27 Feb. 2018.

This article sums up the idea that the government is actually taking a step

backwards in funding any form of birth control and becoming stricter on abortion laws.

This begs the most obvious question, “wouldn’t birth control coverage call for fewer

abortions?” The Trump administration plans to cut funding for Planned Parenthood.
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Cutting funding for this nonprofit organization means no more reproductive health

counseling for younger women, no more safe abortions, no more access to birth control

or other forms of modern contraceptives, and no more preventative health care.

This source helps answer my research question because my question deals with

the defunding of Planned Parenthood. Defunding Planned Parenthood would essentially

be taking away our rights as women. This article shows more of a conservative view on

the topic because Milligan is writing about the Trump campaign and how they promised

to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood. Milligan also stays somewhat neutral in this

article, because she talks about how States like Oregon, are planning on fighting back for

reproductive health coverage.

This source is reliable because it was on the Opposing Viewpoints Database and

was published by the U.S. News & World Report fairly recently in August of 2017. The

author, Susan Milligan, is a senior writer for U.S. News & World Report, and prior to that

she was a professor at Boston University, resident fellow at Harvard University, and a

White House Correspondent. The success and experience of Milligan shows this source is

reliable and that she knows much about social issues and politics.

Some gaps in the topic that I’ve been researching is that even though the Trump

Administration is pro-life and swore that they would cut off Planned Parenthood, they’ve

failed to do so thus far. States, such as California, set in place the right to free birth

control under the Affordable Care Act. The states are fighting back for women’s

reproductive health care coverage, but that does not mean the Trump Administration will

continue to push for taking away these rights. I might try to fill in these gaps by

researching which states are pushing for women’s reproductive health coverage, and
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which states are for the Trump administration. This is a solid topic to research because

the birth control movement has been around since 1914. It seems that even since 1914,

the movement has been completely relevant in the 21st century.

"Political Attacks on Planned Parenthood Are a Threat to Women's Health." Women's Health,

edited by Lynn M. Zott, Greenhaven Press, 2015. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing

Viewpoints in Context,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010922209/OVIC?u=tusc49521&xid=03306473.

Accessed 28 Feb. 2018. Originally published in Scientific American, vol. 30, no. 6, 1

June 2012.

This magazine is very beneficial in describing what Planned Parenthood does.

The stereotype for planned parenthood is that this non-profit organization mostly just

does abortions. In fact, this is not true at all. The magazine viewpoint explains what

would happen if Republicans cut planned parenthood. Scientific American mentions that

abortions take up only 3 percent of the services Planned Parenthood provides to women.

The other 97 percent, for example, went to low-income women who needed an annual

mammogram or pap smear. The 3 percent of abortions that Planned Parenthood performs

are not federally funded.

This article helps me to answer my research question because it is mainly about

understanding what Planned Parenthood is. Many people, a lot being Republicans that are

pro-life, truly believe that Planned Parenthood is JUST a center for abortions. The

problem is that people are not educated or aware of all the other health-benefitting

services that Planned Parenthood provides to low-income women. This source proves to

be reliable because it comes from a scholarly database I used provided to me by the


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University of Alabama library, called Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Another example

to prove the credibility of this source is that the author, Lynn M. Zott, is a successful

author that writes about controversial topics such as sex offenders and public policy, birth

control, school funding, and more.

One bias that Zott may have in writing about Planned Parenthood would be that

she is a woman. Clearly, a woman is going to be more aware of her reproductive rights

and right to have certain services provided to her if she cannot afford them. Another bias,

though unknown, could be if she is a Democrat or if she is a Republican. Democrats tend

to believe that Planned Parenthood should absolutely not be defunded and that women

have a right to choose what is done to their body.

Lastly, I can easily start a conversation using this particular source in my research

paper. It points out significant arguments as to why Planned Parenthood should not be

defunded and shows statistics as well as quotes from other large organizations. There are

also examples of Republicans trying to defund in the past, which was not successful.

Clearly, Planned Parenthood is the largest non-profit for women (and even men)

reproductive healthcare services for a reason. I haven’t found any gaps in this essay

because it recognizes both views in that it mentions why some people, mostly

Republicans, think that Planned Parenthood symbolizes abortion. The magazine article

disagrees with that argument and explains why this assumption is not true. I will for sure
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be backing this article up in my research paper.

Public Religion Research Institute. "Do You Think That All Employers Should Provide

Healthcare Plans Covering Contraception and Birth Control?." Statista - The Statistics

Portal, Statista, www.statista.com/statistics/217593/employers-providing-health-care-

plans-covering-birth-control/, Accessed 27 Feb 2018

This source from Statista, includes a study conducted in 2012 that provides a Yes/

No answer regarding Americans and if they think their employers should provide coverage of

birth control and different forms of contraception such as an IUD. 55 percent of these Americans

answered “yes,” and 40 percent of these Americans answered “no.” It is clear that Americans are
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begging the question to whether or not birth control should be made more affordable and easily

accessible.

To answer my research question, I think this source would be reliable because it shows

that more Americans want a plan to have their employers cover birth control and contraception

then Americans that don’t. This source is also reliable considering it was on the University of

Alabama research guide website. It shows that birth control is a relevant topic and is expensive,

even on working Americans. The study was based off of 1,009 respondents that were 18 years of

age and up. Although 1,009 respondents seems like a small percentage of Americans, the 15

percent difference has to show for something. It does not clarify if these respondents are men and

women, or just women. This could create a bias and I think the source would be more credible if

it clarified that information.

To start a conversation about this source in my research paper, I will introduce the idea of

Planned Parenthood and how that has continued to help many women that cannot afford it. I

would research the percentage of Americans that Planned Parenthood has helped in reproductive

health services, and then apply that information to how effective insurance companies providing

health care to basic birth control to women would be. My perspective on this statistic is that yes,

employers should provide coverage for birth control and contraception.

Various sources (Echelon Insights). "Most Popular Subjects of Conversation on Twitter in The

United States in 2015, Based on Total Number of Mentions (in Millions)." Statista - The

Statistics Portal, Statista, www.statista.com/statistics/499792/top-subjects-of-

conversation-on-twitter-us/, Accessed 7 Mar 2018

I found this statistic on Statista to be useful in justifying how much this topic is

being talked about on social media sites. Planned Parenthood & Abortion was featured as
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the top 10 most mentioned topics on Twitter in 2015. 11.2 million people had mentioned

Planned Parenthood & Abortion, along with other major controversial topics in the

United States such as Guns, #BlackLivesMatter, ISIS, Hillary Clinton, and Donald

Trump.

One thing that interests me the most in this source is that Planned Parenthood &

Abortion are mentioned together and not separately. Why would an organization that

provides a variety of health services for women be only mentioned with abortion? The

statistic doesn’t clarify whether or not the Twitter mentions has to do with defunding

Planned Parenthood, which would be informational to know. A reason that this source

may be unreliable is because there is not much explanation to why these topics were the

most mentioned. On the other hand, this source is reliable because Twitter keeps count of

how many mentions they get. There is a gap in this source because it is unknown why

Planned Parenthood & Abortion are the most mentioned, but it is evident that this is

being talked about nation-wide. It would be interesting to know if Planned Parenthood &

Abortion were being talked about globally, however the source does not clarify that.

To start a conversation about this source in my research paper, it will be important

to mention that abortion is one of the most controversial topic in American politics.

Twitter is a social media platform that is frequently used for voicing opinions by using

hashtags. The President of the United States, politicians, and even celebrities are involved

on Twitter which can gain attention from millions of Americans. This source will be used

in my research paper to rectify how the controversial topic of Planned Parenthood &

Abortion can be voiced throughout social media nation-wide.


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