HR 3134: Defunding Planned Parenthood Act of 2015

HR 3134: Defunding Planned Parenthood Act of 2015

As a young girl, I dreamed about futures that many of us dream about: a marriage to the gorgeous tall-dark-and-handsome man of my dreams, 2 or 3 well-adjusted children, a job that I could love and could support me and my family, and a modest home in the suburbs.  We can call it the American Dream.  These days, as I navigate my adulthood, I find that accomplishing these goals is harder and harder to look forward to.  I face eternally rising housing costs in my hometown of San Mateo and every surrounding city.  I am pursuing education at 30 that was not affordable to me until now.  While I may have achieved the wonderful husband I dreamed about, our family planning has failed to meet the timelines that seemed so realistic when I was younger.

Today’s world is complicated.  Even “successful” young people like my husband and me struggle to manage our finances and needs as we face our futures.  The world that my parents, my grandparents, and many of our lawmakers grew up in is gone.  Life is precious; my husband and I feel a strong obligation to provide a life for our children that we know meets the kind of love and care that God wants to see in the lives of all children.  At a time when more families find themselves displaced, homeless, and hungry, it seems to me every pregnant person should be able to claim the right of their children to have the care and love they deserve-- and if that care and love do not seem feasible, for whatever reason, whether financial, psychological, physical, or whatever-- people should have the right to choose not to bring life into the world.  

In today’s world, many religious traditions, including my own, advocate for individuals to be able to choose when and how they start families and therefore, advocate for abortion rights and availability.  HR 3134 threatens to revoke those rights from conscientious, discerning individuals who seek to provide the abundance of life that God desires for us all.  HR 3134, which has passed the House and is projected to pass in the Senate as well, would remove funding from Planned Parenthood and other health organizations that offer abortion services with the exceptions of those which perform abortions in instances of rape, incest, or risk of death to the mother.  It neglects to consider not only the complicated nature of rape and incest.  It neglects to consider both physical and mental wellness of the child-bearer (with the exception of life-threatening issues).  It neglects minors in abusive situations who may not have the agency or resources keep their bodies or those of their children away from abusers.  It neglects the deep need for us to partake of the abundance of life.  In the first 2 chapters of Genesis, which begins my tradition’s sacred texts, God creates humans to flourish, to be well-fed and cared for.  That is not the reality for many of today’s children of God.  

In an imperfect world, we must provide room for people to be imperfect.  We must provide room for parents to choose whether or not they are ready, willing, and healthy enough (mentally, physically, and financially) to provide the abundant life that is exemplified for us at the beginning of Genesis.  As I have seen Planned Parenthood locations disappear from even my liberal corner of the country, I see how important it is that we continue to fund safe spaces for people to make informed choices about their futures and the futures of those they might choose to bring into this world, especially those who lack the privilege of affordable, comprehensive medical care.  While HR 3134 suggests that “many” state and county health facilities offer services to those in need, anyone who has faced financial difficulty knows that such services are not as accessible as they need to be, even with the help of organizations like Planned Parenthood, which provides not only abortion services, but a variety of other health services for communities in need.  

The abundant life is one that God desires for all of us-- for newborn babies, for minors in dangerous situations, for underemployed and impoverished people, and for all of us.  Planned Parenthood offers services on a sliding scale that help all of us to live abundantly.  We should see their work as a service to those in need-- just the kind of thing that I think God would want us to support.