As then Governor of Indiana, Vice President Pence chose to cut funding to Planned Parenthood. This is what happened as a result of that counter productive and awful decision, a Planned Parenthood clinic which was located in a rural Scott County serving a low income community, was forced to shut down. This clinic didn’t offer abortion services, but was forced to close because of a cut in federal funding The consequences of this action and the closing of the only clinic offering services like STD testing, contraceptions, cholesterol testing, etc. resulted in a severe HIV epidemic throughout the county. Residents who tested positive to HIV were involved in intravenous drug use. Then Governor Pence then declared a public health emergency for that county in 2015 and he ordered also an institution of an emergency needle exchange program to meet this health emergency
As you can see, enforcing a cut in funding of this clinic, a clinic that was very much needed in this community, caused high level suffering for the residents after it was shut down.
As we struggle to debate Pro-Life, Pro-Choice, we have to understand there are politicians and organized anti-abortion movements who want to tear apart services which support and offer abortion care to women patients needing it. It’s important to note that Planned Parenthood has been the most important provider for low income women who not only have used them to get assistance in choosing abortion procedures, but this organization has also offered them total reproductive care services including choices of birth control whether it is pills or IUD’s. The women patients are primarily low income, many on Medicaid and a percentage who aren’t on Medicaid who come here for these services. Other health services offered have been STD testings, cholesterol levels, etc… When a service like this is cut, these patients have nowhere to go. Then what happens is an increase of STDs, unwanted pregnancies, patients who get abortions through poorly managed health specialists or even non health care provider assisted abortions which causes an increase in emergency room visits at hospitals.
As Dr. Leana Wen, President of Planned Parenthood since 2018, she has stressed often, and as she was interviewed by CBS This Morning (in 2018 soon after she joined as new President of Planned Parenthood) and The View (in 2018), that politicians shouldn’t be deciding peoples health care choices. Health care decisions is between a patient and a doctor.
I recommend watching complete interviews of Dr. Leana Wen done in 2018 with these two television programs, to understand her position.