Reuters/Delcia Lopez
Celena Pollock, a PA AT University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, helps at the Nuestra Clinica del Valle in San Juan, Texas, Sept. 22, 2015
To the surprise of many, Donald Trump became America’s president-elect early Wednesday morning.
Now, many women are worried they will lose access to health services like birth control, breast and cervical-cancer screenings, support after sexual assault, and abortion.
Planned Parenthood is the largest reproductive healthcare nonprofit in the US, and some fear Trump’s presidency will put it at risk of imminent closure. On Wednesday afternoon, Planned Parenthood started trending on Twitter with over 70,000 tweets.
I’m going to lose my health insurance, then planned parenthood will close, then I will be a doctor without access to healthcare #nastywomen
— Jaelle Bacon (@Gutterphenomena) November 9, 2016
Top 3 answers in order:
1. Repeal and replace Obamacare
2. Replace Scalia with another originalist
3. Defund Planned Parenthood
— Eric Teetsel (@EricTeetsel) November 9, 2016
Many referenced its homepage, which features an exterior photo of a Planned Parenthood location. “These doors stay open,” it reads.
Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, assures the public that it’s true.
“Every morning, Planned Parenthood health center staff across the country wake up and open their doors, as they have this morning, to care for anyone who needs them, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, income, or country of origin,” she said in a press release. “They will do so today, they will do so tomorrow, they will do so every day as they have for 100 years.”
Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood’s homepage.
But many people on Twitter are worried nonetheless. And the fear that Planned Parenthood could lose at least part of its funding is justified.
As Mother Jones noted, Trump has vowed to block access to abortion facilities, except in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s health is at risk. In September, he pledged to appoint anti-abortion Supreme Court justices, defund Planned Parenthood, and pass the 20-week abortion ban that stalled in the Senate last year.
These movements would effectively turn over Roe vs. Wade — the monumental 1973 Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal. Plus, if Trump succeeds in overturning the Affordable Care Act, as he has promised to do, millions of women could also lose access to affordable birth control.
Of course, abortion services make up a small portion of the work Planned Parenthood does — the organization also offers routine mammograms, education about and treatment for STDs, checkups for expectant mothers, sexual health services for men, and support for victims of sexual assault.
Because of that, many people, including comedian and TV host Samantha Bee, are donating to the nonprofit today and encouraging others to do the same.
So yeah… Today might be a good day to donate to Planned Parenthood, the ACLU & any number of other suddenly VERY important organizations.
— Wilson Bethel (@WilsonBethel) November 9, 2016
Nasty Women raised almost $130,000 for Planned Parenthood so far! You’ve got one week left to prove you’re nasty. https://t.co/jdlEvXlcM5 pic.twitter.com/vZXvNEjIJR
— Full Frontal (@FullFrontalSamB) November 8, 2016
I donated to Planned Parenthood. You can too https://t.co/LfBnzXG5ty
— Michelle Wolf (@michelleisawolf) November 9, 2016
Planned Parenthood maintains that it will never go down without a fight.
“Planned Parenthood has been here for 100 years, and one thing is clear: We will never back down and we will never stop fighting to ensure that Planned Parenthood patients have access to the care they need, people who come from communities that need our continued support in this new reality – immigrants, people of color, the LGBTQ community, people of faith, and more,” Richards said. “Health care should not be political.”
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The post People are panicking about the fate of America’s largest reproductive healthcare provider appeared first on Business Insider.