Ever since the ground-breaking trial of Roe v. Wade in 1973, abortion has been declared a fundamental right. But in this day and age, virtually every American can agree lawmakers and the government as a whole need strict accountability and oversight when it comes to decision-making. This forces each U.S. citizen to carefully contemplate each legality at hand and democracy allows us to then act upon our opinions, allowing us to voice our beliefs rather than making the superiority of one side the assumption. In today’s culture, an incredibly controversial subject that arises time and again evolves around the question – should abortion be a right to choose or a right to life?

Perhaps the biggest argument made by pro-choice advocates is that pregnancy is merely that, a fetus that is not human until it is born. But ponder this: if there is an official declaration of death the moment a person’s heart stops, shouldn’t life commence when the heart begins beating?

According to the British Cardiac Society, “The heart is the first functional organ in vertebrate embryos, and in the human, beats spontaneously by week 4 of development.”

Another coinciding point is that a human isn’t human until it is physically apart from it’s mother; an independent person. Until then, it exclusively falls under her umbrella of authority. But if one leaves a six-month-old child on the street, will it survive? The very definition of a child automatically and universally includes the presumption it is codependent. Even a four-year-old is more reliant on another than a 24-year-old, as is an Alzheimer’s patient than an average healthy person. Thus, with this argument, there is a clear promotion of a culture where life is disposable based on discrimination of age and health.

Defunding Planned Parenthood would definitely contribute to an increase in nationwide healthcare and a healthier government budget. Out of the staggering $1.3 billion in combined annual revenue they accounted for in their 2013 report, $530 million of that was taxpayer money.

Pro-choice advocates argue that those contradicting their beliefs are pro-birth rather than pro-life, but that yearly $530 million could easily go a long way towards healthcare, maternity leave and the overall welfare of both the child and mother.

The company recorded net assets at the end of the last fiscal year totaling more than $1.6 billion. Surely the company can go without government funding, especially considering the half a billion in private donations they already rank in every year would undoubtedly increase. This argument can easily be backed by stifling through each Planned Parenthood financial report. Can’t they at least afford their own operating costs instead of forcing non-consenting citizens to pay?

There are also adoption agencies and prospective parents willing to pay for baggy clothing to hide the bump, a temporary out-of-town living situation, medical expenses and anything else needed to keep a pregnancy easy and completely confidential, such as American Adoptions. But although Planned Parenthood states referrals are one of their main services, with the 321,384 annual abortions that were performed in their latest 2017 report, there were only 3,889 adoption referrals. This means that many women have no idea there is a better option. In their latest report, both revenue and surgical procedures grew drastically, yet referrals fell from 8 percent to just .5 percent, along with a 17 percent drop in prenatal care. The company revolves around abortion rather than women’s healthcare.

The discrete underlying corruption within Planned Parenthood and the movement itself deserves to be heard. The timeliness and urgency with this topic is no less than predominant because according to the latest Guttmacher Institute statistics, an average of 200 lives were taken by abortion since the beginning of this article.

The opinions in this article solely reflect the views of the writer. It does not represent the views of the editorial board of the Student Voice.