Joseph Potter’s three missteps in defending Planned Parenthood

In an op-ed run by San Antonio Express-News, University of Texas professor Joseph Potter pledged allegiance to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America by engaging in the lies that perpetuate the abortion conglomerate’s existence.  In a few creative paragraphs, Potter enumerates why he believes Texas’ defunding of Planned Parenthood was a misstep.  Thankfully, almost nothing Potter said was accurate.  Following are the op-ed’s myths, debunked:

First, Potter’s op-ed states: “Defunding Planned Parenthood would, ironically, lead to more unwanted pregnancies and abortions since the organization, helping women manage their reproductive health, prevents more unwanted pregnancies than it performs abortions.”

Oh, the old “funding abortion mills reduces abortion” absurdity.  This statement is blatantly false.  Recently, the Texas Department of Health and Human Services released the first abortion statistics available to the public since Planned Parenthood was cut out of the taxpayer-funded Texas Women’s Health Program in 2011.  Far from supporting Potter’s claim that defunding PP leads to more abortions, nearly 4,500 fewer abortions have occurred in Texas since the shift. 

Second, Potter regurgitates the common Planned Parenthood talking point that, “None of this [taxpayer] funding pays for abortion services.”

This is a misnomer of epic proportions.  What taxpayer dollars do not fund is the medical price tag associated with abortion.  Everything else related to the commission of abortion is free and clear for taxpayer dollars to cover.  Abortionists’ salaries, electricity and utility bills, building maintenance of abortion mills, and so forth: everything that makes committing abortions possible at Planned Parenthood is covered by the fungible taxpayer funding the abortion giant receives for “other health services” besides abortion.  

Third, Potter laments that in the wake of Planned Parenthood being eradicated from the state-funded Women’s Health Program: “Finding a new provider and securing a timely appointment is often a major challenge, especially in small cities such as Midland or in the Rio Grande Valley, where alternate providers are few and far between.”

Fact: There are more than 300% more non-PP taxpayer-funded healthcare centers than Planned Parenthoods in Texas.  Considering there are only 39 Planned Parenthood facilities in the state of Texas, contrasted with 405 service sites for federally-qualified health centers (FQHCs), the challenge would actually be for every woman in Texas to find an accessible Planned Parenthood.

And Potter’s hand-wringing over the volume of healthcare centers in rural Texas is moot, as Planned Parenthood snubbed their nose at rural Texas when they chose to erect a massive ambulatory surgical center (ASC) in urban San Antonio, which was already saturated with PP-esque businesses (including an ASC), after the Texas Legislature cut them out of the Women’s Health Program.

No matter how many UT professors Planned Parenthood can fit into their pocket, the facts do not change: Texas flourishes without the abortion behemoth.  And the nation will follow.