Hey, this is Anna. A note about this episode. We first put it out in 2016 after we set up recording equipment in a Planned Parenthood clinic in Brooklyn and asked people, what brought you in today?

You'll notice a lot of the Planned Parenthood patients we talked to were there for basic reproductive health care, not abortions.

Since we put out this episode, there's been a big

change in how Planned Parenthood pays for that care. The Trump administration banned clinics

from receiving Title X federal funding, money that covers things like STI treatment, cancer screenings,

and contraception for low-income patients, if those clinics also provide

abortions or referrals for abortions, with a few narrow exceptions. In response, Planned Parenthood

stopped taking those federal funds altogether. Roe v. Wade was decided 47 years ago this month,

and Americans remain evenly split on abortion rights.

In a 2018 Gallup survey, 48% of Americans identified as pro-choice, 48% as pro-life.

How that divide on abortion plays out in our politics has become familiar and predictable. Behind that public debate,

though, are private stories that we hear a lot less frequently. Here again are some of them

from Planned Parenthood patients that we met at that clinic in Brooklyn. Usually when you press

the number six on the elevator, you get like the side eye from people.

Like, Planned Parenthood equals abortion, baby killers.

Like, I don't know what people think goes on in here.

This is death, sex, and money.

We need to be defunding Planned Parenthood, not only state by state, but I think across the country.

The show from WNYC about the things we think about a lot.

It's really an attack against a woman's right to choose and need to talk about more.

They do some very good work, cervical cancer, lots of women's health issues.

I'm Anna Sale.

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