The editorial board of New York City's El Diario and Los Angeles' La Opinión explained why the Republican zeal to defund Planned Parenthood would hurt Latinas the most.

In a January 6 editorial that ran in both El Diario and Los Angeles' La Opinión -- the daily Spanish-language newspapers with the largest circulation in the U.S. -- the board bemoaned the latest Republican push to eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood, saying it's “an aggression directed at low-income women who currently depend on the organization to obtain basic health services.” According to research from the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, existing disparity in access to healthcare for Latinas has “gone from bad to a human rights violation.” As the editorial board noted, the move to defund Planned Parenthood would disproportionately affect the Hispanic community, and demonstrates how reproductive rights have become one of the most important issues driving millennial Latinas to the polls.

According to the board, “hundreds of thousands” of young Latinas receive important services from Planned Parenthood health centers, which have become a crucial resource for the community, considering that Latinas “present the highest levels of reproductive cancers, unplanned births and sexually-transmitted diseases.”

From the January 6 editorial in El Diario and La Opinión (emphasis original):

The House of Representatives' latest attempts to eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood reveals that, for them, it is a priority to be tough on abortion even when the only real harm being done is limiting access to medical services for low-income women.

[...]

An independent estimate found that only 12% of Planned Parenthood's activities are related to abortion. Most of their work focuses on cancer detection, tests, venereal disease treatment, family planning and a guide to navigate Obamacare.

Planned Parenthood provides an important service to hundreds of thousands of Latinas, generally young ones. Hispanics women present the highest levels of reproductive cancers, unplanned births and sexually-transmitted diseases.

If the purpose of cutting these funds is to prevent taxpayer money from being used to pay for the abortions of the poor, that protection is already in place. Although it is not necessary to suspend the funding, the real intention is to destroy Planned Parenthood regardless of the consequences. Redistributing the funds to other clinics does not guarantee that they will provide the same services as Planned Parenthood.

This zeal against Planned Parenthood is an aggression directed at low-income women who currently depend on the organization to obtain basic health services.