Planned Parenthood of Birmingham, Ala. is facing pressure from anti-abortion groups trying to shut it down because of allegations of medical malpractice. The debate over the future of the clinic, which provides low-cost preventive and reproductive health care to women in addition to abortion services, has spread to The University of Alabama campus.
“Planned Parenthood is always willing to hurt women to make money,” Sue Turner, president of Alabama Physicians for Life said in a press release by CEC for Life, Charismatic Episcopal Church. “It’s time to break that cycle, in Birmingham and in our nation as a whole. It’s time [to] shut down abortion centers that show plenty of concern for their profits, but none whatsoever for the health and safety of women.”
The situation has served as a point of political contention on campus in the buildup to the 2012 presidential election.
“The Birmingham Planned Parenthood has a history of a very poor standard of care,” Courtney Pixler, president of Bama Students for Life, said. “It is no surprise that a facility with such a history has harmed yet another woman.”
Pixler is for the closure of the Birmingham Planned Parenthood. She called Planned Parenthood “the world’s largest abortion business,” and cited prior controversial malpractice allegations among her reasons.
Charlotte Lawson, vice president of College Democrats, disagreed. She said anti-abortion groups were using this instance as a façade to make political gains.
“My initial reaction when I hear stories like this one is admittedly disgust,” she said. “As a rule, these ‘pro-life’ groups do not actually care about the quality of women’s health care or their lives; they are simply using women who allegedly have suffered injury as pawns in their scheme to take the United States back to back-alley abortions.”
Lawson said it was easy to draw similarities between attempts to close individual clinics and the nationwide move by some groups to remove all federal funding from the organization.
“It is a shame that they would devote their efforts to shut down health care clinics which provide many essential services beyond just abortions, rather than attempting to actually reduce the number of abortions necessary by providing comprehensive sex education and easy access to contraception to reduce unwanted pregnancies,” Lawson said.
Lawson noted the political importance of the abortion debate in the 2012 presidential election.
“I think the abortion debate plays a huge role in the upcoming election,” she said. “Many women who were otherwise disinterested in politics are motivated to get involved now because their health care is on the line.”
She said the stakes in this election are particularly high, due in part to potential Supreme Court seats becoming vacant.
“If Governor Romney is elected, he will undoubtedly appoint conservative, anti-abortion Supreme Court Justices. Romney would probably only need to appoint one SCOTUS Justice to ensure that Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey are overturned the next time abortion comes before the Court,” she said. “That, I believe, is the greatest threat that a Romney presidency poses to women’s rights.”
Pixler also noted the issue’s importance in the upcoming election.
“We believe that life should be the qualifying issue in every election. A society that doesn’t uphold human beings’ rights to life cannot guarantee any of their other rights,” Pixler said. “We hope that our next president supports and implements policies that respect all human life, including the elderly and the very young.”
Pixler and Lawson agreed that increased on-campus dialogue is a positive.
“I am optimistic about the fact that women’s health care is seeming to become more of a discussion than a shouting match on this campus,” Lawson said. “It is hard to generate critical thought with quick slogans and chalk, and when it comes to the rights of half of the world’s population, deep thought and consideration is essential.”
