Planned Parenthood provides needed services

Even though the Affordable Care Act remains the law of the land, we often forget many people in Iowa still don't have the health care they need. According to Gallup, in 2017, 7.2 percent of Iowans lacked any health insurance at all. Further, many Iowans have health insurance, but work for organizations with birth control exemptions. Family planning and sexual health are essential services adults need for healthy and productive lives.

Planned Parenthood continues to be one of the only organizations in Iowa that provide men and women with free or low-cost birth control, as well as routine physical exams, vaccinations, health screenings for common health problems, testing and treatment for STIs and abortion services.

It has endured numerous attacks on its funding as well as its mission, especially since the advent of the Reynolds administration in Iowa. Iowa's Family Planning program has left 2.5 million family planning dollars unspent and is paying for less than a third as many birth control pills, hormonal implants and related services as its predecessor. This appears to be because of the Legislature's vote last year to bar abortion-providing agencies from participating.

It's time to call the Iowa GOP out on their colossal failure in attempting to push their unscientific and cruel agenda on the women of Iowa.

Kelli Sharpe

Cedar Rapids