Mike Pence, a Senator from Indiana has been attacking Planned Parenthood at least since 2007. Every year he tries to get all funding to the organization banned. This year is no different. He has written a bill to block Planned Parenthood, and only Planned Parenthood, from receiving any funding from Title X.

Title X is the only federal program that provides funding for family planning. Since 1976 there has been a federal ban on funding for abortions, with a few very limited exceptions. Because of that ban, Title X primarily funds access to birth control for low income families. There are approximately 4,500 community based clinics who receive Title X funding. Planned Parenthood operates many, but not all, of these clinics.

The government website for Title X says: “Title X-supported clinics provide a number of related preventive health services such as: patient education and counseling; breast and pelvic examinations; breast and cervical cancer screening according to nationally recognized standards of care; sexually transmitted disease (STD) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) prevention education, counseling, testing and referral; and pregnancy diagnosis and counseling. By law, Title X funds may not be used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning.”

Planned Parenthood receives about a third of all Title X funding, and performs about a fourth of all U.S. abortions. Planned Parenthood is nationally recognized as a source of information for members of both sexes who want to prevent pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases or AIDS. The abortions provided in some locations are funded by individual donations to the organization. None of the money for abortion related serves comes from the Federal government, or from the State government in Colorado.

That doesn’t stop abortion foes from trying desperately to get rid of Planned Parenthood. For a long time I’ve said that banning abortion is a slippery slope leading to a ban on birth control. Young women rarely believe this because they have always lived in a world where a full range of reproductive health services are available. But, back in 1916, there was no “pill” and women could neither vote nor divorce. Margaret Sanger, decided to do something about that, and opened, in Brooklyn, the first birth control clinic in America. Later that clinic became part of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

This latest attack on Planned Parenthood includes a video making the rounds in right-wing internet circles. It is reminiscent of the video attack on ACORN—they both have prostitutes and pimps; they both are staged; they both are heavily edited; they both are false. ACORN lost their fight for survival. We can’t afford to let Planned Parenthood lose. Why not send a donation RIGHT NOW to your local chapter? When you are done with that, call your congressional representatives in Washington and tell them what you think about keeping a full range of reproductive health care available to all women. Maybe send a thank you note to Dianna DeGette for the work she is doing…

Homework

The War on Planned Parenthood

Denver's Diana DeGette Leads the Charge to Save Planned Parenthood

About Title X

Planned Parenthood Federation of America

Biography of Margaret Sanger

KJCT8 Covers Planned Parenthood

List of Local Centers & Services Provided

Planned Parenthood and ACORN videos