Some are claiming a government shutdown is imminent because of the effort to defund Planned Parenthood.

Federal funds are already prohibited for use in abortions, so federal funding of Planned Parenthood goes towards women's health. For many young women the health professionals at Planned Parenthood are the only healthcare they will receive in their teens and 20s.

Do we want to see the resulting increase in STDs and unplanned pregnancies that will result from lack of services available to young women?

Are those services not available in the general public if there is a government shutdown? OMG!, Does that mean the Health Care bill is already in effect, and doctors won't get paid if the shutdown occurs?

Drivel. The public have options to get care at their own expense.

Drivel. The public have options to get care at their own expense

.

And if they can't afford them, thats just too bad, right?

How is it that republicans have chosen to make the budget battle a battle over social issues? I'd have thought that lowering overall govenrment spending might reach a sympatheitic populace but when they tie it to an issue where the established majority have expressed support for improved health care access, and where the right to choose is still totally divisive - what on earth will they gain politically? All they've done, is right at the beginning, paint themselves as choosing to balance the budget on the poor. You think they couldn't have chosen a few billions somewhere else to start this process?
(Say that new landing craft the Marines don't really want or subsidies for big agra? Jus wondering...)

No. There are charities that can take care of the few that truly need it.

and people will starve if we do not feed them, people will freeze if we do not house them, people will have sore feet if we don't give them new shoes? People will feel bad if they can't afford the latest fashions given to them if they can't afford them.

I understand there are costs to everything we do or do not do, it's a balancing act and planned parenthood is maybe worth the expense, but it's certainly not a slam dunk no brainer either, seeing them unfunded might not be the end of the world either.

Gee whiz, 30% of their income comes from the government. You would think that they could take care of 70% of the most needy...

Perhaps curbing some spending to meet more of the needs of their clients as well.