Planned Parenthood is the latest group to come under GOP fire, with efforts being made to defund the organization of federal money.

The Republicans have long been after the agency for its pro-abortion stance and have sought to close it. Recently a series on highly inflammatory videos emerged purporting to be from inside Planned Parenthood. The videos show employees talking about killing live fetuses and then harvesting the body parts for profit/cash. The videos were reviewed and found to be heavily edited and untrue. This has not stopped the Republican party from using these videos as a rallying cry for their base and party.

Almost every one of the GOP presidential candidates has mentioned this and the need to close Planned Parenthood.The Democrats have been pushing back, stating that this is just pandering to the anti-abortion base and that what Planned Parenthood does is being overlooked. They note that abortion makes up only 3 percent of what they do, that what they do is provide quality health care and screening to many low income women that would not have access to this. They state that these tapes are pure fabrication and women should not have to suffer for this. They strongly oppose using this as a tool to shut down the government and point to the fact that the majority of Americans do not want to see this happen.

A recent study by USA Today/Suffolk University found Americans support Planned Parenthood by a 2-1 margin, 65 percent say funding should continue and 73 percent do not want to see a government shutdown over Planned Parenthood. The government funding to Planned Parenthood was also shown not to go to funding abortions but for other women’s health issues and screenings.

Career services center coordinator and faculty, Lavinia Zanassi says that this is a very complicated and emotional issue that people have differing opinions on.

“I would expect to think that an organization that has been in existence as long as Planned Parenthood, and who has done such good work, for as long as it has, that it wouldn’t be so irresponsible,” Zanassi said. “However something has happened that has opened the eyes of the people.”

Zanassi was involved with WIT, Women in Transition, for a number of years and has seen the direct impact that affordable health care has on the success of many of these women.

“Affordable health care is primary,” Zanassi said. “There is no way a community or country can go forward without this. Both my male and female re-entry students rely on services that allow them to circumvent or remove barriers. Affordable healthcare is one of these services. This offers women the opportunity to move forward by handling situations that are inherit to their gender. And through the years, Planned Parenthood has provided this type of service and allowed women to have greater freedom and confidence.”

Defunding Planned Parenthood could have direct and dire consequences for many of those who use and rely on their services.

According to physician’s assistant Terri Sofarelli, Planned Parenthood comes to Skyline College on a weekly basis to provide free reproductive health care for students.

“If Planned Parenthood is defunded, there will be thousands of students both male and female that will not be able to receive the reproductive health care as well as no birth control, no physical exams, and no STI (sexually transmitted infection) treatments,” Sofarelli said. “It would be devastating for colleges across the country.”

Planned Parenthood offers a variety of services such as pap exams, breast exams, family planning, upper respiratory exams, as well as dealing with diseases like UTI’s (urinary tract infections). Probably the most prominent service they provide would be birth control.

“This allows people to take control of their future and life in planning their pregnancies,” Sofarelli said, “I think Planned Parenthood is one of the most important and best private organizations in the country. It helps thousands of women, girls and men on a daily basis.”

Many students have depended on Planned Parenthood and the services that they provide, for instance Skyline student Sangai Kunche said,

“For students who rely on their parent’s income, that is their source of confidentiality and privacy,” Skyline student Sangai Kunche said. “I’m sure there is a lot of cultural barriers, which is why they can’t tell their parents, and so Planned Parenthood encourages them to be safe, and provides them that sense of comfort.”

Students said that Planned Parenthood is offering people a “safe haven,” where it provides them the resources necessary when there’s other places that students or young adults don’t feel comfortable approaching.

“It would really be a shame if they defunded Planned Parenthood” Skyline student, Lia Pastorino said. “It’s providing affordable healthcare for both men and women. Beyond that, they also offer primary care.”

Obama said he would veto the defunding of Planned Parenthood if it went through, potentially forcing some backtracking on the decision.