It has come to my attention that, recently, an additional 4 of the 12 Planned Parenthood locations in Iowa were shut down. This is an unfortunate trend and a huge mistake. As a current student and health care professional in the Washington, D.C., metro area, I have a front row seat to the hottest topics in political debates (enter reproductive rights), but while the exciting and life-altering decisions are made here in D.C., I would argue that the greatest impact is often felt in areas that couldn’t be further from us geographically or demographically, like rural Iowa.
For example in my neck of the woods, where the best hospital in the country resides, you also meet an urban center with a disproportionately high percent of residents not receiving proper reproductive health care or without access to basic contraceptives and education. But here, most stakeholders recognize the problem and do not question the necessity of acting to provide a solution. In Iowa, however, it is my fear the stakeholders are misinformed, and have misidentified reproductive health care as anti-Christian, anti-republican or anything other than what it is – a necessary right.
Closing the only Planned Parenthood in the region will, and likely already has, lead to increased unwanted pregnancies. It will likely lead to increased STIs for your teenage daughters. It will also lead to an increase in women who do not receive proper screening for largely preventable diseases like cervical cancer. As a graduate of Creston High School, I can tell you that within the academic setting, we are not properly informed as preadolescents about how to minimize the risk of STIs or unwanted pregnancy. Health clinics like Planned Parenthood help bridge the gap in sexual education knowledge left wanting by public education institutions.
By the numbers:
• 5.2 percent of births in Iowa are to a mother under age 19; the youngest mother was 12 years old (most recent data from 2014)
• Teen pregnancy is expensive and cost the state of Iowa tax payers an estimated $85 million in 2010
• 1 in 5 women of reproductive age rely on Medicaid for health coverage, making it difficult to find and afford providers who will give them quality care. Clinics like Planned Parenthood helped women of all socio-economic backgrounds receive birth control, annual exams and education at no cost.
Put on empathy this holiday season and remove your preconceived notions or pseudo-religious biases. Are you a physically well female without STIs or a history of unwanted pregnancy between ages 15 and 45? Then you are privileged to have insurance and a good doctor, or maybe you have neither of those and you are just plain lucky. You will not have to look far in a town like Creston to find a woman who is not as lucky as you. Make sure she has a fair chance and equal access to the same health and quality of life you do. Closing free clinics and trolling Planned Parenthood is absolutely not the way to achieve this.
Data gathered from the following sources:
1. http://iowapublicradio.org/post/operations-ending-four-planned-parenthood-clinics#stream/0
2. https://thenationalcampaign.org/why-it-matters/public-cost
3. https://idph.iowa.gov/Portals/1/userfiles/68/HealthStats/vital_stats_2014.pdf
4. https://dhs.iowa.gov/sites/default/files/maternhc_0.pdf