More Planned Parenthood Clinics Equals Fewer Teen Births, STDs

As Republican lawmakers try everything they can to defund Planned Parenthood, a new study suggests that closing its clinics would have major health consequences for Americans. States with more Planned Parenthood clinics tend to have lower rates of teenage-mother births and sexually transmitted diseases, according to the study by Miranda Yaver, a lecturer in Yale University’s political science department. The report, titled “When Dual Incentives Become Dueling: Public Health Consequences of Responsiveness to Pro-Life Sentiment,” relied on data from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and the Kaiser Family Foundation to study teen birth and STD rates, state by state, between 2008 and 2013. “The results suggest that it is advantageous to continue investment in women’s health clinics, both from public health and economic standpoints, rather than reduce services at the risk of adverse health outcomes,” Yaver wrote in her report. The study also found that women rely less on emergency room care in states with more Planned Parenthood clinics and that there are fewer HIV diagnoses per capita. Yaver noted a recent HIV outbreak in Indiana following state legislators’ 2011 move to gut public funding for Planned Parenthood, which left one rural county devoid of HIV testing centers for more than two years. Despite earlier studies highlighting the positive effects that Planned Parenthood clinics have on women...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news