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For decades, a woman s right to choose has been one of the most debated issues in both Washington and inside the homes of millions of Americans. Some argue that the moment after a child is conceived, it is murder to terminate the pregnancy. These people tend to be deeply religious and are often members of the conservative coalition. In the middle lies the majority of Americans, who believe in abortion only in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother s life is in danger. On the other end of the spectrum from the anti-choice groups are completely pro-choice groups, who believe that abortion is a responsible form of family planning. Politically, the Democratic Party tends to favor pro-choice groups.
In fact, the party platform says the following: The Democratic Party stands behind the right of every woman to choose, consistent with Roe v. Wade, and regardless of ability to pay. We believe it is a fundamental constitutional liberty that individual Americans not government can best take responsibility for making the most difficult and intensely personal decisions regarding reproduction Our goal is to make abortion less necessary and more rare, not more difficult and more dangerous. We support contraceptive research, family planning, comprehensive family life education, and policies that support healthy childbearing.
The abortion rate is dropping. Now we must continue to support efforts to reduce unintended pregnancies, and we call on all Americans to take personal responsibility to meet this important goal. Pro-choice groups have brought America where it is today, being the champions of pro-women legislation and Supreme Court acts such as Roe v. Wade. One such group is the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. For more than 80 years, Planned Parenthood has provided women a safe-haven; a place to let them get their lives back in order.
On October 16, 1916, in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, Margaret Sanger, her sister Ethyl Byrne and their associate Fair Mindell opened the first birth control clinic in America. They provided contraceptive advice to extremely poor, immigrant women, who waited on long lines, hours before opening, just to hear the words of Sanger and her partners. Less than a month after opening their clinic, all three women were arrested and sent to prison for 30 days (where she ended up teaching birth control to other inmates) for violating New York s anti-obscenity statutes. In 1923, Sanger founded the Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau which treated patients and worked to keep accurate records which Sanger hoped would help to broaden interpretation of the law which sent her to prison. In 1939, the two organizations Sanger founded merged to become the Birth Control Federation of America, which was later renamed the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the organization which exists today. Between 1940 and 1960, Planned Parenthood s volunteer driven, grassroots movement provided family planning counseling in hundreds of communities across the country.
By 1960 more than 120, 000 people were visiting Planned Parenthood every year. Today, thousands of Planned Parenthood centers are located throughout the United States, with nearly 100 in New York alone. In the Nassau County area, Planned parenthood centers are located in Glen Cove and Hempstead. As for Planned Parenthood s current mission statement, they provide the following as their, Reason for Being. Planned Parenthood believes in the fundamental right of each individual, throughout the world, to manage his or her fertility, regardless of the individual s income, marital status, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, or residence.
We believe that respect and value for diversity in all aspects of our organization are essential to our well-being. We believe that reproductive self-determination must be voluntary and preserve the individual s right to privacy. We further believe that such self-determination will contribute to an enhancement of the quality of life, strong family relationships, and population stability. Based on those beliefs, Planned Parenthood s goals are: X To provide complimentary information and health care services in privacy respecting environments. X To advocate public policies which guarantee these rights and ensure access to such services.
X To provide educational programs which enhance understanding of individual and societal implications of human sexuality. X To promote research and the advancement of new technology in reproductive health care. Planned Parenthood does not seem to openly discuss how much money it has, the scope of its budget, or how much it takes in from fund raising, but it does offer people who are willing to donate money plenty of options. In their White House Message Campaign one can donate as little as $ 25 and, with the donation, Planned Parenthood says it will send word of the gift to President Bush, along with one s own personal message to the President. However, to become a full member of their National Leadership Counsel which gives one the privilege of attending their national events, one needs to donate $ 500. The new President indeed seems to be Planned Parenthood s top focus right now, as they are currently running programs titled, Roe v.
Bush, and Ashcroft Watch, programs meant to keep the new administration from doing anything too damaging to their ongoing pro-choice campaign. Affiliation is a somewhat interesting topic for Planned Parenthood on the Web. On their own site, the only affiliations they show are to their own subsidiaries, such as Planned Parenthood of Nassau County, etc. However, other pro-choice groups list Planned Parenthood as being affiliated with them. Such groups include NARAL and NAL. NARAL, in particular, seems to be heavily affiliated with Planned Parenthood from the NARAL page, yet no mention of NARAL is made on the Planned Parenthood page.
NARAL s prime focus seems to be getting their way in Washington. NARAL is split into three separate groups, NARAL, Inc. , which, works through the political and legislative systems to advocate for comprehensive reproductive health policies, NARAL-PAC, is the driving force behind the election of many pro-choice candidates. NARAL-PAC mounts multi-faceted campaigns, including paid advertisement, and effective get out the vote election day efforts. NARAL-PAC s financial contributions and political advice provide a critical edge to pro-choice candidates. Lastly is the NARAL Foundation which provides, charitable donations and legal work, and mounts training for grassroots activists. Whether or not NARAL and Planned Parenthood are truly associated seems to be impossible to say based on the information given on their respective web sites, but it does seem highly likely that there is a connection.
NAL, the National Abortion League, also mentions the Planned Parenthood Federation on its own web site, but is not mentioned on the Planned Parenthood site. Again, this leads one to wonder how much affiliation there really is between the two groups. Pro-choice legislation is an ongoing battle for groups like Planned Parenthood. Obviously, Roe v. Wade was the most major triumph for pro-life groups. The decision ruled that the 14 th Amendment s guarantee of personal liberty included a woman s right to terminate her pregnancy.
The court also ruled that the state had valid interests in the well being of the woman and the life of the fetus. To deal with these somewhat contradictory rulings, the court divided a pregnancy into trimesters, which are about three months each, and employed a kind of balancing test. In the first trimester, state laws and regulations cannot interfere with a woman s right to terminate her pregnancy. In the 2 nd trimester, state laws can regulate abortions in order to protect the woman s health. During the last trimester, state laws may prohibit abortion unless the woman will die if she has the child.
Another court case came in the form of Webster v. Reproductive Health Services. In 1986, Missouri enacted legislation that included prohibiting public employees from performing or assisting in abortions not necessary to save the life of the woman, prohibiting the use of public buildings for performing abortions (even if no public funds were used), and requiring physicians to perform viability tests when the pregnancy was at least 20 weeks. The Court upheld the law in a 5 - 4 decision written by Chief Justice William Rehnquist, with Justices Scalia and OConnor writing separate concurrences.
Three justices in the majority opinion found problems with the Roe trimester system. Chief Justice Rehnquist along with Justices Kennedy and White, suggested a new standard of review: whether the regulation or law permissibly furthers the states interest in protecting potential human life. They concluded that the Missouri law in question satisfied this test. The Court did not address overturning Roe since the law did not limit abortions before viability. Justice Scalia wrote a separate concurrence stating that the Court should have overruled Roe.
Justice OConnor also wrote a separate concurrence because she did not advocate the overturning of Roe, nor was she ready to eviscerate the trimester system. She applied an undue burden standard and found the restriction constitutional. Although it is difficult to say that a clear ruling emerged from Webster, it led to what was to come in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. Another such Supreme Court case is as follows: The Supreme Court decided this case challenging a Pennsylvania law in 1992.
The Pennsylvania law contained the following provisions: 1. Informed Consent V A woman who wants an abortion must be given state-scripted counseling about the health risks of the abortion and of childbirth, and the probable gestational age of the unborn child. The woman must be informed of the availability of printed materials published by the State describing the fetus and providing information about medical assistance for childbirth, information about child support required by state law from the father, and a list of agencies which provide adoption and other services as alternatives to abortion. An abortion may not be performed unless the woman certifies in writing that she has been informed of the availability of these printed materials and has been provided them if she chooses to view them. 2. 24 hour waiting period following the initial appointment for the state-scripted informed consent counseling, the woman would have to wait 24 hours before having an abortion. 3. Parental consent young women under 18 would be required to secure the consent of one parent before the abortion could be performed. If a parents consent could not be secured, the woman could go before a judge and try to convince the judge that she is mature and capable of giving informed consent or that an abortion would be in her best interests. (See the parental notice and consent cases below). 4.
Spousal notification would require a married woman to present a statement signed by her husband, attesting that he knows about her intention to have an abortion, before she could undergo the procedure. 5. Reporting requirements V would require reports to the state for each abortion performed that included the names of any physicians involved; the facility name; the referring physician or agency; the womans age; the number of prior pregnancies and prior abortions she has had; the gestational age; the type of abortion procedure; the date of the abortion; whether there were any preexisting medical conditions which would complicate pregnancy; any medical complications resulting from the abortion; where applicable, the basis for the determination that the abortion was medically necessary; the weight of the aborted fetus; and whether the woman was married. Every abortion facility would also be required to file quarterly reports showing the number of abortions performed broken down by trimester. In upholding all of the provisions except the spousal consent requirement, but stopping short of overruling Roe, the Court developed a new way of thinking about abortion cases. The plurality opinion refused to overrule Roe and stated that state laws that banned abortion would be unconstitutional. However, the Court abandoned the trimester framework of Roe in favor of the undue burden standard previously articulated by OConnor in Webster.
Undue burden was defined as a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking the abortion of a nonviable fetus. Applying this rule to the provisions at issue, they found that only the spousal consent provision presented an undue burden. Justice Blackmun wrote a concurrence stating that the strict scrutiny applied in Roe should still apply. The dissenters would have upheld all of the provisions and overturned Roe.
This case is significant because it is the current standard employed by the Court in deciding laws restricting abortion. This ruling has enabled states to pass more laws restricting access to abortion. Obviously, for each pro-choice group there is, there is also an anti-choice, anti-abortion, group to almost cancel it out. People whos ideals and moral values are based on the same ideals Americans had 100 years ago are ruining any chance our nation has for progress. Electing people like John Ashcroft as Attorney General does nothing but set as back, holding us in place without any chance of progressive reform. Planned Parenthood is doing a wonderful thing by giving women the chance to live their lives for themselves without having to watch their lives turn to ruin because of an unwanted pregnancy.
Americans can only hope that Roe v. Wade stays intact and groups like Planned Parenthood continue to prosper.
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Research essay sample on Planned Parenthood Federation Pro Choice
