America’s confused views on Planned Parenthood, in one perplexing poll

Abortion opponents have long attempted to paint Planned Parenthood as an organization synonymous with abortion, targeting it with sting videos and threats to strip funding.

One new survey suggests that might not be working: Americans appear to view Planned Parenthood more favorably than they do abortion clinics writ large.

Vincent DeGeorge at Carnegie Mellon University put together a few charts based on recent survey data from Reuters. And it shows that the American public is way more okay with federal funds going to "Planned Parenthood" than it is with those same dollars going to "any organization that also provides abortion."

Planned Parenthood is, of course, an organization that also provides abortion services. But this poll suggests there's a decent chunk of the American population that doesn't see it that way. And, in a way, that makes sense: Even though Planned Parenthood is the country's largest abortion provider, most of its services aren't abortions. They're things like writing birth control prescriptions and conducting STD screenings. So it's possible it's those types of services respondents are thinking about when they answer this question.

At the same time, the new sting videos do appear to have had a negative effect on Planned Parenthood. Reuters asked poll respondents a second time whether they supported funding the group after reading them this statement.

As you may have heard, an anti-abortion group recently released videos reportedly showing Planned Parenthood staff saying they sell tissue from aborted fetuses. Due to these allegations, Republicans in Congress are attempting to take away all federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

Support for funding fell significantly.

Read more about the Planned Parenthood controversy over aborted fetal body parts here.

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