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Congress recently rejected, by an overwhelming margin, an amendment to H.R. 3043 (the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill) that was proposed by Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind. Pence’s amendment, if passed, would have prohibited Title X money from being made available to a key provider of family planning services – Planned Parenthood.
For more than 30 years, the Title X program has served as the nation’s only federal program dedicated to providing family planning services. The Title X program provides comprehensive birth control services as well as a wide range of other preventive health care services, including breast exams and instruction on breast self-examination; Pap tests for early detection of cervical cancer or precancerous conditions; testing for high blood pressure; screening and appropriate treatment for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV screening; and referrals to specialized health care. In accordance with federal statute, Planned Parenthood does not use any Title X money to provide abortions.
Pence is striking out at Planned Parenthood because some of our non-Title X health centers do provide abortion services. But removing federal money from a key provider of family planning is a shortsighted move that would inevitably result in more unintended pregnancies and, as a likely consequence, an increase in abortions. Had this amendment passed, it would have denied family planning services to millions of women, men and teens across the country by restricting federal family planning money from going to Planned Parenthood-affiliated health centers.
In Indiana, eight of the 35 Planned Parenthood health centers operate under the Title X program. These eight health centers serve about 35 percent of Indiana’s Title X patients. If Planned Parenthood were suddenly made ineligible for Title X money, what would happen to the 17,000 women and men who could no longer access preventive health care in those eight health centers? What would happen to their families?
Planned Parenthood is the largest reproductive health care provider in Indiana. There is no other entity that could immediately step in to serve those 17,000 Hoosiers, who are living in rural areas and other underserved communities. Pence’s amendment would have eliminated their access to birth control, cancer screenings and STD treatment.
By providing comprehensive preventive services, Planned Parenthood health centers are critical to reducing the need for abortion. In fact, the majority of the patients that Planned Parenthood sees are at highest risk for unintended pregnancies: low-income women who are at four times greater risk of facing an unintended pregnancy and more likely to seek an abortion.
It was no coincidence that Pence introduced his amendment last week, when hundreds of Planned Parenthood staffers from across the country, including myself, were gathered in Washington for our annual public affairs conference. I was proud to join my colleagues on Capitol Hill to protest this dangerous amendment, and I was thrilled that the majority of the House of Representatives recognized the crucial role Planned Parenthood plays in helping Americans prevent unintended pregnancy, and defeated the Pence amendment.
On behalf of our organization and our patients, I would like to thank the members of Congress who had the courage and foresight to stand up in opposition to this mean-spirited amendment, especially Indiana’s own Reps. Julia Carson, Baron Hill and Peter Visclosky. Access to quality, affordable reproductive health care is essential to leading a healthy, productive life. Income should not be a barrier to birth control. Fortunately, at least some of our legislators get that.
