If the House Republican leadership has its way, it will completely eliminate the federal family planning program, Title X, and on top of that, prevent Planned Parenthood from receiving any federal funding to provide preventive health care services.
The national family planning program is an essential program that provides lifesaving, preventive care to millions of women each year and saves taxpayers money. But the recent House-passed bill that will keep the government funded zeros out the family planning program. In existence since 1970, Title X has not only saved millions of dollars, but has prevented millions of unintended pregnancies. In addition, an amendment to the bill prohibits Planned Parenthood specifically from all federal public health funding streams.
Bucks County Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick voted for the amendment to defund Planned Parenthood, the ONLY provider in Bucks County of Title X and Medicaid family planning services to low income women - often their only source of health care. If this amendment survives the political negotiations process, it will only hurt women - taking away health care that millions receive today.Denying funds to Planned Parenthood means many women would lose access to their health care provider since few other providers in Bucks County accept Medicaid patients. Where are these women to go? This is an unprecedented, ideological attack on a specific health care provider that will result in more women losing access to the very basic health care they need.
Eliminating the national family planning program and federal funding for Planned Parenthood under the guise of deficit reduction is bad policy and bad politics and we urge the Senate to reject these dangerous proposals.
Planned Parenthood of Bucks County provided basic primary and preventive care, including annual exams, lifesaving cancer screenings, contraception, and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections to over 16,000 patients last year, close to 75 percent of whom are low-income. These services are proven to be incredibly effective, helping to prevent unintended pregnancies, almost half of which would otherwise end in abortion. For every public dollar invested in family planning, $3.74 is saved in Medicaid-related costs. Simply put, without this funding, more women will experience unintended pregnancies, more will face potentially life-threatening cancer and other diseases that could have been prevented, and perhaps most ironically, there will be more abortions.
Americans do not support these proposals. Recent polling in Pennsylvania by Susquehanna Polling and Global Strategies tells us that a majority of Pennsylvanians support government funding going to Planned Parenthood health centers in every region of the state - including 70 percent support in our area.
Congressman Fitzpatrick is surely out of touch with the majority of voters in his district on this issue. So why did Congressman Fitzpatrick vote to defund Planned Parenthood? He says it's because Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in the country, and that tax dollars shouldn't go to support abortion. These funds, however, clearly do not fund abortion services in any way. There has been a federal prohibition on this since the Hyde amendment passed in 1976.
Yes, abortion is a part of what we do - less than 10 percent of our services, but services we are proud to offer in our community and others across the country where few others will. About one-third of American women will have an abortion before 45. This is a legal procedure that women need and want. Planned Parenthood has proven time and again, audit after audit, that clearly NO federal funds are used for abortion services - they are supported solely by fees for the service and private donations.
These proposals do nothing to improve the economy, will result in job losses, and will cut off thousands of women in Bucks County from their only source of preventive health screenings. Congress should be doing everything it can to ensure that women have access to preventive care, not eliminating the very program that provides it.
Investing in commonsense, proven, effective, preventive health care is smart public policy, and smart politics. Congress must protect funding for the Title X family planning program and for Planned Parenthood health centers.
Maggie Leigh Groff is director of Public Affairs for Planned Parenthood Association of Bucks County.
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