When do we as a society say enough is enough?

Regardless of whether Planned Parenthood is violating the law as the string of heavily edited videos released by a pro-life group suggests, it certainly appears to have no regard for human life. If anything in the seven videos is accurate, then the group’s culture of devaluing life is appalling.

We won’t relay the gory details depicted in the videos, but they are stomach-turning and would be unbelievable if not caught on camera.

The critical issue of the day is whether the government should send any funding to the organization. Aside from providing abortions, Planned Parenthood also provides women’s health services. And that’s the tricky part of attempting to defund the organization. Any attempt to do so will be framed as an attack on women’s health.

While defunding the group has become a rallying point for conservatives, it will likely do nothing to reduce the number of abortions carried out at its clinics. According to the Washington Post, federal funding is used for things like STD testing, cancer screening, contraceptives, etc. The Post reports that private donations and fees fund its abortion services. While stripping federal funding would harm the organization, it may do nothing to reduce abortions.

Even if Congress did vote to defund the group, it would do little to solve the historical problem that Planned Parenthood now represents.  Abortions aren’t new — they were carried out in ancient times. Devaluing human life isn’t new.

Several states, including Mississippi, once force-sterilized people who were considered unfit to reproduce. The practice ended in Mississippi in 1963.

So no one should be surprised that abortions are happening. We often commit atrocious acts in the name of bettering ourselves or bettering our country or bettering society.

And if history is any indication, that’s not likely to change any time soon.