Gabrielle Union
Renowned actress and activist Gabrielle Union has been making her opinion about defunding Planned Parenthood very clear since 2011 when she said, "cutting Planned Parenthood does such a disservice to our already underserved community." While Union has spoken about how significant P.P.'s services are to women everywhere, she has also focused on their importance to minority women specifically. In her 2012 Huffington Post blog post, Union noted that "black women under age 40 have a higher incidence of breast cancer than any other racial group," and after losing her best friend to breast cancer in 2010, Union pledged to stand by P.P. so that women of color can have access to an organization that provides nearly 750,000 breast exams yearly. Union is a firm believer that PP provides health services like STI testing, breast exams, and specialized follow-up services to women who might otherwise not be able to afford it. She has also noted that only 3% of PP services are related to abortions, but people still insist on "taking one piece [of PP] and deciding that the whole thing is bad, and that's just not the case."
Joni Ernst
U.S. Senator Joni Ernst is fighting to pass a bill that would eliminate federal funding to Planned Parenthood and overturn an Obama administration rule that prevented states from being able to defund P.P. As a member of the pro-life community, Ernst said her goal is to support mothers and "the most vulnerable in our society - the innocent babies who are unable to defend themselves." Ernst believes that organizations that provide abortion services, like P.P., should not receive any federal funding, even though P.P. does not currently receive federal funding for abortion services. In 2015, Ernst proposed redirecting federal funding from P.P. towards community health centers instead, which she says, "provide greater health care services regardless of a person's ability to pay."