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Paris Bryan

Mrs. Kenly

British Literature

27 April 2018

Abortion Funding Research Paper

Abortions should be funded to help low-income women because sometimes, you never

the circumstances in which she got pregnant. The woman may not have proper medicaid or

insurance to provide herself with birth control, or have the kind of money to purchase any

condoms. Other women may suffer from immune affected disease that make childbirth a life

threatening experience. Abortion was legalized under the 14th amendment’s right to privacy

provision. People against legal abortion continue to fight to limit the effects of the decision. This

included preventing federal or state funds to be used to promote abortion.

In 1976, congress passed the Hyde Amendment which bans the use of medicaid and other

federal funds for abortions for low-income women. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan introduced

the Mexico City Policy, which required non-governmental organizations in other nations to agree

not to perform or promote abortions as a condition to receiving federal funds from the U.S. to

use for family planning assistance. In 1987, The department of justice is prohibited from paying

for abortions for women in federal prisons. Fast forward to 2017 January 23, Donald Trump

reinstates the Mexico City Policy and expands it to include all global health organizations that

receive federal funds from the U.S., not just family planning organizations. “Protecting Life In

Global Health Assistance”, includes funding for health programs for Hiv/Aids, maternal and
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child health, malaria, global health security, and family planning and reproductive health. In

February 2017, Lilianne Ploumen, minister of foreign trade and development cooperation in the

Netherlands, establishes a non-governmental organization, called she decides to make money for

global health organizations that won’t receive U.S. funds following Trump’s reinstatement of the

Mexico City Policy. The funding pattern has been on and off for several years. It provides a

natural experiment for estimating the short-run effect of changes in the cost of abortions on the

number of abortions to indigent women.

Approximately one third of pregnancies would have resulted in an abortion if state funds

had been available. Nevertheless, the circumstances on how the woman got pregnant is never

assured. “A probability sample of 4008 adult women took a 3 year longitudinal survey that

assessed the prevalence and incidence of rape and related physical and mental health.”

Am J. Obstet Gynecol Rape-related pregnancies: Estimated and descriptive characteristics from

a national sample of women August 1996 The rape related pregnancy rate is 5.0% per rape

among victims between ages 12-45. These rape related pregnancies occur frequently. “As we

address the epidemic of unintended pregnancies in the United States, greater attention and effort

should be aimed at preventing and identifying unwanted pregnancies that result from sexual

victimization.” Women who get pregnant from being sexually assaulted should not be forced to

come up with all of the money to get a procedure done. The woman did not get pregnant on

purpose. A total of 32.4% of the women who have rape related pregnancies aren’t even aware of

themselves being pregnant until the second trimester. Only 11.7% receive medical attention right

after they are raped, 47.1% of them didn’t receive any medical attention at all after they were

raped. This goes to show that if the women don’t know they are pregnant, how will they even

become prepared to have a child? What if they aren’t financially stable to raise a human being?
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What if they can’t even take care of themselves?

Other women may suffer from immune weakening diseases that make it life threatening

to experience childbirth. For example, Lupus. Lupus is an inflammatory disease caused when the

immune system attacks its own tissues. Patients with lupus are more likely to experience

pregnancy complications. About one third of women with lupus have antiphospholipid antibodies

that may cause blood clots and interfere with placenta functioning. All lupus pregnancies are

considered high-risk. Lupus can complicate pregnancy with an increased risk of miscarriage,

premature delivery, and preeclampsia, as well as heart problems in the baby. Preeclampsia occurs

once in five women with lupus. If left untreated, it can be life threatening to the woman and the

baby. The symptoms that come with having lupus can also make childbirth more painful to a

person with the immune disease. Some of these symptoms are muscle pains (can affect the after

birth process), and painful breathing(occurring when in labor). In this regard, this leads to

unemployment which then leads to being financially unstable. “Women with lupus are at risk for

renal complications including renal failure if pregnancy occurs during a phase of active renal

disease.” Chris Iliades The risks of pregnancy for women with lupus April 4 2009 A woman with

lupus can choose to have her baby and risk the life of herself or get an abortion. Being mindful

that she still is unable work so she is unable to pay for an abortion. Let that sit.

“Representative Nita M. Lowey, democrat of New York, called the new rule cruel and

unprecedented attack on the world’s most vulnerable women” Gardiner Harris and Somini

Sengupta Trump to Expand Funding Ban Tied to Abortion Overseas May 15 2017 She feels that

the rule is not good for low-income women. Bruce Rauner becomes first governor to begin

taxpayer funding of abortion. Rauner signed the controversial House Bill 40 into law. The law

contains language that will ensure abortion remains legal in Illinois if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
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“HB 40 would also require taxpayer funding of abortion for low income women through Illinois’

medicaid program.” Michael J. New Bruce Rauner Becomes First Governor To Begin Taxpayer

Funding Of Abortion September 29, 2017 Prior to today, 15 states funded abortion through

medicaid.

The situation is very discriminative. People are basically implying that mainly low

income women are getting pregnant. “A maximum estimates suggests that 19-25% of the

abortions among low income women that are publicly funded do not take place after funding is

eliminated.” Rebecca M. Blank Volume 15 Issue 5 Journal of Economics: State abortion rates

the impact of policies, providers, politics, demographics, and economic environment Oct 1996

pages 513-553 As they oppose abortion funding, they also noticed that after abortion funding

was eliminated, the rate of abortion went down maybe because abortions are unaffordable to

some women.

The senate voted to ban Tenncare funds from healthcare providers that perform elective

abortions. TennCare is the state Medicaid program in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Bell feels like

if they are going to ban the whole Tenncare from providing funds to healthcare in Tennessee

then, they need to ban all of the other medical clinics that provide the same thing. “We have

dozens of other medical clinics, Bell said. This is not a cut. It is the policy of the state to favor

child birth as an integral part of the health and the welfare of the state.” Jordan Buie Senate votes

to ban Tenncare funds from health care providers that perform elective abortions March 29 2018

His point is that you have to ban them all not just one.

The house then turns around and approves bill seeking to defund clinics that offer

abortions in Tennessee. Women trust that if they end up with an unwanted pregnancy, no matter

what the circumstances are, then she can go get a legal abortion that will be covered by her
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insurance that she pays for. “This bill is simply an attack against women, Keri Adams, CEO of

Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee said in January. It would prohibit women

from accessing preventive care at Planned Parenthood Health Centers and take away a person’s

ability to see the qualified provider of their choice for these sensitive services.” Joel Ebert House

approves bill seeking to defund clinics that offer abortions in Tennessee March 12 2018

Everybody is entitled to support their beliefs.

Based on a survey of 28 african americans, the majority of them were females. Due to the

fact that more females agreed with abortions than males, that proves that the results are biased.

Most women would feel like the government should fund towards abortions primarily because

women are the ones who get the process done. From a male’s perspective, women paying out of

pocket for their abortions isn’t a big deal. They may think that is just a piece of cake to pay for

an abortion. A selection of the females who agreed with abortion funding were mainly high

school students. This goes to show that if a female student in high school was to get pregnant,

then she would assume that she can go get an abortion using her insurance. In fact, it is more

common for a high school student to be unemployed due to school purposes. Deeper into the

topic, a female high school student may get pregnant and not want the pregnancies for the main

reason that it will stop her from finishing high school.

It’s bad enough that a woman with low income has to stress about not having enough

money for needs such as food, clothes, rent, etc., but for her to have to worry about accidentally

getting pregnant and having to find a way to pay for an abortion is just extraordinary weight on

her shoulders. Taking a jab at such a sensitive target to a situation is just unfair and despicable. If

the shoe was on the other foot, and it was males that were forced to pay out of pocket for an

abortion but they didn’t have the money to pay for then this would be a different concern. If they
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are going to take away the insurance a woman has then maybe they should make it a law that if a

male gets a female pregnant and the pregnancy is unwanted,then the male is OBLIGATED to

also come up with some money to get the woman he impregnated an abortion. And if a woman

had a raperelated pregnancy then she should be able to have a choice to a free of pay abortion.

Telling a woman that if she gets pregnant, no matter the circumstances, and decides she

wants to get a procedure done to terminate her pregnancy, it cannot be paid through her

insurance. She is basically being forced to pay out of pocket for maybe something that she didn’t

even help make herself. After the elimination of abortion funding, the number of abortions goes

down. They feel like low income women are mainly seeking financial help with abortions. If

there is a reduction in the births then there will be fewer pregnancies. Meaning that if abortions

are being funded then it will take stress off of women who think they will have to go through a

pregnancy. Therefore, the pregnancy rate goes down as well as the birth rate.

The funding pattern has been on and off for several years now. It provides a natural

experiment for estimating the short-run effect of changes in the cost of abortions on the number

of abortions to indigent women. Approximately one third of pregnancies that would have

resulted in an abortion, hade state funds been available. “This on-again, off-again funding pattern

provides a natural experiment for estimating the short-run effect of changes in the cost of

abortions on the number of abortions to indigent women.” Phillip J. Cooka Volume 18, issue 2

Journal of Health Economics April 1999 Pages 241-257

In conclusion, if a woman is poor or classified as low income, then the government

should not discriminate against them just because they can’t afford to pay for an abortion. A low

income woman should be able to get an abortion without stressing about how she gone pay for it

just like a woman with higher income. Abortions aren’t a bad thing even if a woman wants to get
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one because she realized its not the best decision to bring a child into this world. A woman is

entitled to her right to terminate her pregnancy no matter the circumstances. Sometimes the

circumstances are so devastating that she doesn’t want to bring a child into the world knowing

the obstacles the child might have to deal with or the reminders the baby may bring. You can

blame a lady for not having safe sex to prevent the pregnancy but, for rape related pregnancies

you cannot blame the female for getting pregnant. She didn’t want to be raped, she probably

didn’t even provoke the situation in any way possible. Yet, she still got taken advantage of and

manipulated. On top of that, they’re going to force her to pay out of pocket for an abortion she

didn’t even know she was going to have to get. That’s too much pressure on a woman that just

got raped, let alone, found out she was pregnant.

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Works Cited

Am J. Obstet Gynecol Rape-related pregnancies: Estimated and descriptive characteristics from

a national sample of women August 1996

Chris Iliades The risks of pregnancy for women with lupus April 4 2009

Gardiner Harris and Somini Sengupta Trump to Expand Funding Ban Tied to Abortion Overseas

May 15 2017

Joel Ebert House approves bill seeking to defund clinics that offer abortions in Tennessee March

12 2018

Jordan Buie Senate votes to ban Tenncare funds from health care providers that perform elective

abortions March 29 2018

Michael J. New Bruce Rauner Becomes First Governor To Begin Taxpayer Funding Of Abortion

September 29, 2017

Rebecca M. Blank Volume 15 Issue 5 Journal of Economics: State abortion rates the impact of

policies, providers, politics, demographics, and economic environment Oct 1996 pages 513-553

Ian Simpson South Carolina governor bans abortion funding, hits healthcare Aug 25 2017

Phillip J. Cooka Volume 18, issue 2 Journal of Health Economics April 1999 Pages 241-257