Resolved: Planned Parenthood should be abolished in the US

Rules 1. No trolling 2. Keep some type of format when responding 3. BOP is shared 4. Remember, you are going PRO which means you want Planned Parenthood to be abolished Contention 1: Provides needed services for women Planned Parenthood is not simply an abortion factory as many critics say. In reality, it is actually a provider of healthcare for many women. In fact, according to NPR in 2015, we can see the following: “The overwhelming majority of Planned Parenthood's services involve screening for and treating sexually transmitted diseases and infections, as well as providing contraception.” http://www.npr.org... We can also see from the graph on the site that Contraception and STD care take up the majority of spending. While my opponent may claim that abortion is a large part of Planned Parenthood as well, let us look toward Politifact, we can see that an accurate measure of how much abortion plays a role in the program which is 12% of its organization. That means only 12% of the work in Planned Parenthood involves abortion. The majority, also backed by Politifact, goes to research into STDs and how to prevent them. Planned Parenthood also plays a role into the fight against breast cancer as cited from Politifact: “Different types of cancer screening and prevention, including breast exams, account for 935,573 services.” http://www.politifact.com... These contributions to society are important given the scale of the problems discussed. In fact, approximately 12% of women will have some sort of breast cancer in the future. With this startling fact, researching it now to come up with an answer is the best answer we have to counter the problem. http://www.breastcancer.org... We also need to observe the lasting decision to target the STD epidemic that has swept across the nation. If we look toward the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, we can see that STDs are on the rise and more prevalent than ever. Chlamydia, syphilis, and gonorrhea have all gone up by at least 2% since 2013. This prevalent problem in society needs to be addressed as well, and since the Planned Parenthood organization directly targets these problems, we need to negate the resolution. http://www.cdc.gov... As clearly shown, one must negate the resolution to protect the everyday person against the dangers of STDs and cancer that is present in today’s society. Contention 2: We would increase illegal abortions There seems to be a mutual misunderstanding when debating this topic that abolishing Planned Parenthood would entirely get rid of abortions. This is untrue. This is because Planned Parenthood offers educational and contraceptive services which decrease the likeliness of unplanned pregnancies which lead to abortions. According to the Guttmacher Institute, we can see that in 2013, without family planning services, (often given by Planned Parenthood) there would have been 345,000 more abortions. https://www.guttmacher.org... We can see the effects of this when we look toward the Washington Post in 2016 where we see that the birth rate of teens are at an all-time low with a citation from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention center in the form of a graph. This shows the effect of Planned Parenthood’s educational services as well as the usefulness of keeping them around. https://www.washingtonpost.com... So what happens when we get rid of Planned Parenthood? We would see an increase of illegal abortions on the black market. According to International Business Times in 2015, with the closing of multiple abortion clinics in Texas, many women either travel outside the country when they need an abortion, or use many of the drugs in the black market to induce abortion including Misprostol, a medicine for stomach ulcers that does, in fact, induce abortions. However, due to inflation because of women using it for abortions, the drug is now valued at 130 British pounds, which is over one hundred dollars in the United States. http://www.ibtimes.co.uk... It should also be mentioned that illegal abortions not regulated by any government organization could very well result in death. If we turn toward the World Health Organization, we can see this: “Increasing legal access to abortion is associated with improvement in sexual and reproductive health. Conversely, unsafe abortion and related mortality are both highest in countries with narrow grounds for legal abortion.” http://www.who.int... The same report also mentions that women who use Misprostol for abortions are more likely to end up in a hospital. These are dangerous ways to have an abortion, and keeping a legal, safe option open is the best way to keep abortion at a minimum while also not jeopardizing women’s health. With this, I urge a negative vote to protect women nationwide. Contention 3: Legal Precedent If we look into the past we can reap knowledge to help us in the present. This basic notion can also help us with the abortion issue. There was, at one time in 1973, a Supreme Court case that decided this issue. That case was called Roe v. Wade which established that it is unconstitutional to deny one an abortion. Because the Supreme Court’s duty is to judge the laws of the land with due process, we can see that this is an open and shut case. The American government does not have the ability to simply claim women cannot have abortions as it is against the very fabric of democracy. After all, the decision was based on the fourteenth amendment of the Bill of Rights. Also, the ruling was upheld with the Casey v. Planned Parenthood case as well, with a slight limitation on when one can have an abortion. These landmark cases need to be upheld today out of legal precedent. http://www.pbs.org... https://www.pbs.org... My opponent has to prove why this court case is not sufficient evidence or why it is flawed, because otherwise, the legality of this resolution is ultimately challenged which results in it not being able to be passed under American law. Contention 4: Economic benefits While it may not be entirely necessary to point out, there would be substantial economic benefits to keep Planned Parenthood. For instance, if we were to look at an Atlantic article in 2015, where they cite the National Women’s Law Center, we can observe the following: “ The National Women’s Law Center highlights research that shows the initial availability of birth-control pills in the early 1970s accounted for 30 percent of the growth in the proportion of women in skilled careers between 1970 and 1990, and contributed to an increase in the number of women in fields that are dominated by men, such as medicine and law.” http://www.theatlantic.com... Not only this, but we must realize that due to Planned Parenthood, teenage pregnancy is at an all-time low resulting in more participation in school for many teenagers. More education may not directly translate to more people in our labor market, but it does have an indirect effect of getting rid of one of the major reasons why women do not attend college. This is supported by Teen Pregnancy Statistics when it states that less than 2% of teenage mothers will actually receive a college degree and that many will be dependent on welfare for the rest of their life, which sucks up government funds. Luckily, since teen pregnancy is at an all-time low according to the statistics I used previously, we can see that we have a net saving of money. http://www.teenpregnancystatistics.org... What we need to observe is the obvious reasons why economically, we need to keep funding and supporting Planned Parenthood for the women in the country. As clearly shown, we need to negate the resolution for the protection of women, cost of the government, legal precedents, and the fact that we would not end abortion anyway. For these reasons, I see nothing but a negative ballot.