Defund Planned Parenthood: A Call for Truth and Life
I was a senior in high school when I walked into what I now understand to be a death facility run by Planned Parenthood. I was scared. I was ashamed. And I was desperate for a way out. They gave me what felt like hope – but it was a lie.
They told me that if I had an abortion, my parents would never have to find out. My already unstable relationship might survive. My life would go back to normal. But what they didn’t give me was the truth.
After performing an ultrasound, I asked repeatedly to see the screen. The nurse finally turned it toward me, but quickly dismissed it with the words, “It’s nothing – just the size of a pea.” What she didn’t say is that my baby was already seven weeks old. She didn’t mention the heartbeat. She didn’t tell me that my child’s DNA was completely unique – never to be replicated again in the history of the world.
Instead, they gave me abortion drugs. The first set in the clinic, the second to take at home. I was told it would be like a heavy period.
It wasn’t.
What followed was a nightmare. The drugs didn’t work correctly. I began hemorrhaging – while still at school. When I called a Planned Parenthood, they simply said, “That’s why we gave you two sets. Take the second one – you’ll be fine.”
But I wasn’t fine. I bled for hours alone, terrified and in pain. Still hiding the truth from my parents. Still trying to believe the lie that this would make everything okay.
That experience changed me forever. And yet this is the organization we continue to fund with taxpayer dollars?
Planned Parenthood doesn’t empower women – they exploit them. They don’t offer freedom – they capitalize on fear and desperation. They don’t tell women the truth – they sell death and call it “choice.”
They didn’t care about me. They didn’t care about my baby. And they don’t care about women. If they did, they would speak truthfully about what happens in an abortion. They would provide real healthcare – not procedures that end life and leave women emotionally and physically scarred.
If I could go back – knowing what I know now – I would give my baby life without hesitation. I would choose courage. I would choose truth.
Abortion didn’t solve my problems – it multiplied them. The weight of regret is real. And no one at Planned Parenthood prepares you for that. They don’t talk about the sleepless nights, the guilt, or the grief. They don’t tell you how abortion impacts future relationships, future pregnancies, and your sense of worth. They don’t tell you how long the pain lingers.
That’s why I’m using my voice now – to speak for the babies who never had one, and for the women still trapped in silence.
Here in Pennsylvania, abortion is permitted up to 24 weeks of gestation. In 2023, more than 56% of abortions were drug-induced, and 67% occurred at eight weeks or earlier. This means thousands of women – many just like I was – are walking into abortion centers every year and taking drugs at home, alone, thinking this is a simple solution. But it’s not.
The abortion rate in our state stands at approximately 14.5 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44, just above the national average. We can – and must – do better.
It is long past time for Congress – especially our leaders here in Pennsylvania – to take action and stop sending our tax dollars to Planned Parenthood.
According to their own reports, Planned Parenthood ends the lives of almost 400,000 unborn children each year. They receive over half a billion dollars annually from federal funding. They claim these funds don’t go toward abortions – but money is fungible. Every tax dollar they receive frees up other resources to expand their abortion business.
This is not healthcare. This is not compassion. This is not what Pennsylvanians should be funding.
To our elected officials representing Pennsylvania in Washington: I urge you to stand for the most vulnerable among us – both women in crisis and the unborn children whose lives hang in the balance. Defund Planned Parenthood through the budget reconciliation process. Redirect those funds to life-affirming alternatives – community health clinics, pregnancy resource centers, and organizations that truly care for women and children.
Every life – whether in the womb or outside of it – is worth protecting. Every life is worth fighting for.
We must stop funding lies. We must stop funding pain. We must stop funding death. It’s time to defund Planned Parenthood.