On Monday, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards appeared on CNN International where she spoke with Christiane Amanpour to discuss Republican efforts against the organization. The past week has not only seen Congress aggressively planning to defund the woman’s healthcare provider — which will disproportionately affect minorities and low-income families — but the Trump-Pence administration has made no secret of their desire to boot Roe v. Wade via strategic Supreme Court nominations.
So, it’s no wonder that people are trolling Mike Pence over his anti-choice stance. Yet there’s a serious and very frightening prospect at work. Not only is the right to an abortion under siege, but healthcare for millions of women may soon disappear too. This results in not only the fear that women will be forced to carry unplanned pregnancies to term, but they may not even be able to afford proper prenatal care to do so.
Richards says that these twin fears have led the demand for a certain (and very reliable) method of birth control (IUDs) to increase 900% — and this dramatic change began on the day after the election.
“What we’re talking about now, in fact, and what Paul Ryan — Speaker Ryan — said the other day is now they’re going to end access to Planned Parenthood preventive care. That means birth control services, cancer screenings, well-woman visits. We provide healthcare to 2.5 million people every single year and that healthcare is now at risk.”
All of this federal doom-and-gloom is arriving as states like Texas continue their own efforts to take the organization down. Planned Parenthood is committed to keeping their doors open, and at this point, it’s going to be up to the people to help them do it.