House Republicans Propose Stripping Family Planning Services From Millions Of Low-Income Women

BY TARA CULP-RESSLER POSTED ON JUNE 17, 2015 AT 10:08 AM
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House Republicans released a budget proposal this week that would eliminate funding for the Title X program, a decades-old network of family planning providers offering birth control, cancer screenings, STD testing, and reproductive health treatment to millions of low-income women across the country.
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The Title X program was first created in 1970 under former President Richard Nixon. Back then, federally-funded family planning services had broad bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle acknowledged the government’s role in making birth control more accessible to impoverished Americans. “It is my view that no American woman should be denied access to family planning assistance because of her economic condition,” Nixon declared at the time.
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Since then, the GOP position has shifted considerably. Spurred by concerns that some Title X providers — like Planned Parenthood — also function as abortion clinics, conservative lawmakers have set their sights on stripping funding from the federal program. In 2011, House Republicans voted along party lines to dismantle Title X.
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These legislative attacks on the family planning program have so far been rebuffed by a Democratic-controlled Senate. However, now that Republicans control the Senate, it’s possible that Congress’ final budget could include the elimination of Title X this year.
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The proposal from the House Appropriations Committee also seeks to roll back much of the Affordable Care Act, eliminate most of the federal funding for comprehensive sex ed and teen pregnancy prevention programs, and give employers more power to refuse to cover reproductive health care services they object to. The committee is holding a hearing on the proposal on Wednesday morning
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Read more
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http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/06/17/3670537/house-gop-title-x-budget/