Dear future president,

First off I'd like to say, congratulations for reaching a milestone that only 43 other people have been capable of obtaining. As a member of the next generation that will determine the way the United States is run I naturally have several concerns about political issues today. Of the many concerns I have, one that stands out the most to me is the importance of planned parenthood and other similar sex education institutions that are government funded. Planned parenthood is one of the most controversial issues we as a nation face today abortion, birth control, and even Zika funding cause this nation to be divided. While I understand that a large amount of people dislike planned parenthood for reasons such as the fact that they provide easily obtainable abortions, the fact that you don’t need a parents consent to obtain hormonal birth control, and many people claim that planned parenthood is a waste of federal funding. I digress.

Planned parenthood has been overall very beneficial for the majority of this country's youth. Since 1991 there has been an increase in planned parenthood funding that directly correlates with the drop in teenage pregnancies. (https://saynsumthn.wordpress.com/category/planned-parenthood-fined-by-state/ http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10533r.pdf) The simple fact that the teen pregnancy rate is at the lowest it's decades demonstrates how useful easily obtainable birth control is for americas youth. Two out of every three women report to have used one of planned parenthood’s many services throughout their lifetime, if it were to lose funding it would affect every one of those women who deserve to have a place to go to for safe and easy access to birth control. While most people may just see planned parenthood as a place to get condoms and abortions there are many other vital services they provide for the community, one of those being assistance with stds. From screening to treatment they have many different tools that can help anybody learn more about stds. Even though STDs are a growing problem planned parenthood still administers more than 4.2 million std tests and treatments (https://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/who-we-are/planned-parenthood-at-a-glance)

Many people are very strongly against planned parenthood because of the fact that they make it less of a challenge to get an abortion, this is a very controversial opinion today. The many people who believe that cutting planned parenthood funding will decrease the amount of people obtaining abortions are incorrect, simply because there is a law in place that states that planned parenthood is not permitted to use federal tax dollars to pay for abortions (http://www.factcheck.org/2011/04/planned-parenthood/). This disproves the notion that the federal government favors abortion by funding planned parenthood. Another common complaint about planned parenthood is that over 41% of planned parenthood's funding comes from the government, this is shown in the fiscal summary of planned parenthood for the years 2013-2014. (https://issuu.com/actionfund/docs/annual_report_final_proof_12.16.14_/0) In my opinion this is an invalid arguement, simply because even though something uses government money to operate doesn’t mean it’s bad. Wouldn’t you think it would be ridiculous if I told you a reason why school is bad is because it is government funded? I could argue that school is unnecessary and you do not really need education to survive, but it sure does help. Just like how planned parenthood is not exactly needed, it more so just makes getting necessary health care easier.

All in all I think that planned parenthood should not be overlooked as a source for this country's young females for information when it comes to their health. Planned parenthood has been making it increasingly easier for women today to obtain the much needed medical care they deserve. Funding should stay the same or be increased as to help the average woman who struggles to get the health care that her gender requires.