If Rmoney Keeps His Planned Parenthood Pledge, Who Will Bear The Burden?

Earlier today in Ohio, Rmoney said this:

The actions I'll take immediately is to remove funding for Planned Parenthood.

Putting aside Mitt's typical Republican inability to achieve subject/verb agreement in number, what's wrong with this assertion?

For the radical religious right, Planned Parenthood has come to be a symbol of all that is wrong with women's health care. What percentage of Planned Parenthood's resources are spent on (gasp) abortion? 15%? 25%? Half? I've heard all those numbers out of the mouths of congressional Republicans, inevitably male Republicans, playing the "be very horrified!" card. But really... what's the actual percentage Planned Parenthood spends on abortion services?

Wait for it...

About three percent (3%). That's all. And those are necessarily spent by a separate parallel entity that does not receive federal funds.

So, on to the next big question. When Mitt Rmoney defunds Planned Parenthood, what services will he eviscerate? what are Planned Parenthood's other approximately 97 percent of resources spent on?

• Contraception: 35%
• Sexually transmitted diseases (testing and treatment): 35%
• Cancer screening and prevention: 16%
• Other women's health services (not including abortion): 10%
• Other services (again not including abortion): 1%

That's what Mitt Rmoney, in a purely political gesture of cold uncaring, deprives women of if he defunds Planned Parenthood. And many of the women served... and hence deprived... are poor, or young, or in their childbearing years in need of OB/GYN care, or old enough to be at exceptional risk for cancer.

Ann Rmoney, of course, never lacks any women's reproductive health service money can buy. No worry there, oh no.

I have known women who are college students who would not finish college without available contraception. The proverbial aspirin between the knees (God damn the man to Hell who said that recently) is a poor substitute.

I have known several women in my own age group who have been through the trauma of breast cancer, cancer which likely would have gone undetected without the services of Planned Parenthood. Other kinds of cancer, and a variety of types of infections, are also detected and treated by Planned Parenthood. But they will not be, if Mitt Rmoney kills Planned Parenthood.

I read at several sources, to my astonishment, that after last Wednesday's debate, Rmoney's gains in support against Obama were mainly among women. What are those women thinking? Put aside issues of abortion; think about the other 97% of Planned Parenthood services. Do (or did) those women never use Planned Parenthood's services? Do they not have mothers, daughters, sisters, cousins who depend on Planned Parenthood?

Planned Parenthood's 97% of services include pregnancy checks, well-baby checks and routine women's reproductive health checks. Think about those babies who are tested now, but who would not be tested if Mitt follows through on his threat...

MITT WOULD LITERALLY THROW THE BABY OUT WITH THE BATHWATER.

(Ahem.)