May 9th, 2011
Republicans and democrat members of Congress were gridlocked in a debate over the 2012 budget for several weeks. At 11:29pm on April 8th, House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released a statement announcing the end of the highly debated Federal Budget for 2012. The statement called the budget cuts “historic,” with both political parties agreeing to cut $78.5 billion from the President’s 2011 budget.
Proposed Planned Parenthood Cuts
One of the most controversial proposed amendments to the budget was the Pence Amendment, which sought to cut Title X funding to Planned Parenthood. Title X provides federal funding for family planning and preventative reproductive health services for low-income individuals. Historically, this funding has saved lives through early detection of cancer, diagnosed, treated and prevented the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), helped families maintain an affordable family size by issuing birth control, and prevented unintended pregnancies and abortions. Read the rest of this entry »
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March 17th, 2011
The Senate is currently reviewing the Pence Amendment that will decrease funding to Title X and the family planning clinics it supports across the U.S. Already passed by the House in February, this slash in funding to an already poorly supported program could make it impossible for some low-income women to access reproductive health services and family planning counseling, resulting in higher instances of cancer and unwanted childbirths.
Measures are also called for in Pence to ban Planned Parenthood from all government funding. Currently one of the biggest recipients of Title X funding is Planned Parenthood, a nationwide provider of reproductive health services, family planning, sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing and treatment, and counseling to low-income individuals. Title X provides the government funding to support these vital services, which resulted in the early detection of as many as 55,000 cases of invasive cervical cancer alone from 1980-1999.
Planned Parenthood responded with a statement calling the amendment “radically out of step with mainstream American values” and called on the Senate to restore their subsidies.
Why is a service that provides valuable health services to people who couldn’t otherwise access them being attacked? Read the rest of this entry »
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