“One question that this whole issue boils down to is the unborn human being. If a fetus is not a human being then by all means terminate whatever it is, but if it is what does that say about us as a state and as a nation?” said Kendra Burger, director of educational outreach at Iowa Right to Life.

Politics, morality and women’s health are all being called into question as debates rise about the potential defunding of Planned Parenthood.

It is widely known that the standing of Planned Parenthood and it’s practices regarding abortions and women’s health care have been extremely controversial topics of debate in the upcoming Presidential election, members of each party expressing strong opinions either backing or bashing the organization.

While most of the Democratic candidates such as Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are against it’s defunding, many Republicans like Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are in favor of shutting it down because of Planned Parenthood’s reputation as a widely known and very active abortion clinic.

Carrying out abortions makes up only 2 percent of the services offered by Planned Parenthood according to but the polarizing issue has for the most part overshadowed the organization, propelling political debates and nationwide disagreement on whether or not the clinic should be defunded and what if will mean for women if it is.

While some insist that procedures and practices carried out by Planned Parenthood are outright violations of human dignity and morality others argue that defunding the organization is an interference on women’s rights and a limitation on women’s health care as a whole.

“It’s a complicated issue,” said David Anderson, assistant professor in political science. “On the left people say abortion should always be available, it’s completely a woman’s right to choose and on the right they say women should never have the right to choose it’s a morality issue.”

Although pro life Americans and politicians want to see Planned Parenthood shut down because of their involvement with abortion many individuals on the other side of the argument wonder what the separate consequences will be for women who use Planned Parenthood as their main health care clinic.

“Putting the abortion question aside Planned Parenthood provides all types of resources for women, especially for low income women who don’t have access to medical care.” said Tessa Dinito, political science professor.

Besides abortions, Planned Parenthood provides general health care, STD testing, body image, birth control and many other services which are especially beneficial for especially young women and women with low income.

Those in favor of Planned Parenthood strongly predict that other organizations would not be able to step in for Planned Parenthood in providing these different aspects of readily available health care to all women due to a lack of government funding, attention and support.

“Some groups have said we will decrease funding for Planned Parenthood and increase funding for other women’s health providers, but the fact is there are no other women’s health providers that are capable of stepping in. You shut down planned parenthood there is going to be a massive gap in women’s healthcare. Low income and young women would be most heavily affected.” said Anderson.

These opinions however are not held by all and many do in fact believe that Planned Parenthood violates human life and if it was defunded other health care clinics could step in and alternative ways in supporting women in their general health care and could be found.

“There are 213 federally qualified health centers in Iowa and 1300 plus in the United States. When we talk about defunding Planned Parenthood it’s about reallocating that money and providing full health services to women, not just ones based upon reproductive organs. These clinics serve low income women since they are federally qualified.”  said Burger.

Another factor which causes many to suspect corruption within Planned Parenthood is the amount of profit that the organization acquires every year.

“According to the annual Planned Parenthood of the Heartland report, overall Planned Parenthood’s numbers are down. Their client services are rapidly diminishing but their profits are increasing. When we talk about politics affecting women’s health we’re talking about dollars being wasted. I think that women’s health care would be greatly benefited without Planned Parenthood,” said Burger.

Both sides take strong opinions and recently the already heated matter has reached near boiling point after video footages were released by The Center For Medical Progress portraying members of Planned Parenthood discussing the sale of illegal fetal parts.

Pro-life supporters were outraged by the videos, Donald Trump calling them, in an interview with The Blaze TV’s Dana Loesch Tuesday Night, “disgusting,” further stating that “Planned Parenthood should absolutely be defunded.”

However, after investigations the United States House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee found the videos to be highly edited and as a result saw no solid evidence of wrongdoing on Planned Parenthood’s part.

During a judiciary hearing committee Jeff Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee stated, “Did we find any wrongdoing? The answer was no.”

Many pro choice supporters, infuriated by the videos, agree with Chaffetz and believe the videos to be falsely edited to frame Planned Parenthood.

Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, the first presidential candidate that Planned Parenthood has ever endorsed, firmly stands with the organization and when speaking at a campaign in South Carolina went as far as to say that the videos released were a “concerted attack against a woman’s right to choose.”

Pro Life supporters disagree and stand by the validity of the videos, knowing that Planned Parenthood, with their millions of dollars in profit on the line, would go by every means to discredit them in any way possible.

“To call those videos fake is to call a female, Holly O’Donnell, a former StemExpress employeeand licensed phlebotomist a liar. She was in planned parenthood herself. Part of her testimony said that if there was a higher gestation and technicians needed it there were times when they would just take what they wanted and the mothers wouldn’t know. The videos became edited into smaller attention grabbing promo videos but the full footage is available and I’m sure Hillary Clinton hasn’t sat down to watch the entire three hours of the full footage. Until she’s done that it’s not for her to have any comments on it,” said Burger.

Dispute over the videos continues to go on and depending on the results of the election they will have a major impact on the continuation of Planned Parenthood.

Whether it is defunded or not it will take several years to see the effect.

“It would take a long time to see repercussions. In terms of the political fallout abortion is a really polarizing issue in this country. In certain parts of the population it would be deemed as a good thing in others it would be seen as very problematic,” said Dinito.

Overall, since it is so politicized, the topic of women’s health seems to be one that comes with feelings of uncertainty, aggression and unease. These connotations are not ideal for women when they are used in association to their own health.

“Women’s health has been a politicized issue for a very long time and different aspects are more politicized than others. The recent reactions of congress with the scandals regarding Planned Parenthood are pretty good examples of times when politics and women’s health should not be colliding even though they are. There are certainly instances where policy is needed to regulate healthcare but there are times when politics can get in the way,” said Dinito.

This being said it would be nearly impossible now to limit  women’s health from politics as the conversation has evolved from just women’s health. It is now intertwined into the crossfire of political parties biting at each other’s throats, the issue of basic human rights to health care and the questioning of what defines a human being.