While the movement in the rest of the nation for revoking taxpayer funding of the Planned Parenthood abortion business is growing, lawmakers in Washington state are considering increasing taxpayer funding.
The Washington legislature will convene a special session tomorrow and, when lawmakers meet, the state Senate will continue to consider how best to close the $5.5 billion deficit the state currently experiencing. On solution has been offered that has been met with a curious eye from pro-life advocates.
On Tuesday, the Senate Ways and Means Committee will hold a public hearing on SB 5912, which would increase spending on contraceptives by $2.5 million. The bill proposes expanding eligibility for Take Charge, the state’s primary state supported contraceptive program, to those who make up to 250% of the federal poverty level.
That has drawn opposition from the Family Policy Institute of Washington. The group told LifeNews.com:
While taxpayers spend $15 – $20 million each year on Take Charge, (most of which comes from federal sources) the state pays much more to deliver babies than it did previously. In fact, since take charge has been operating,Washington State’s spending on live birth’s through Medicaid increased from $200 million to nearly $340 million in 2009.
Yet, despite this reality, this bill seeks to increase funding for Take Charge while claiming that those expenditures will save the state money.
Abortion providers, which also provide contraceptives, are strong supporters of this proposal. Take Charge has expanded their customer base to such an extent that more then half of Planned Parenthood’s client’s are now Take Charge enrollees. Planned Parenthood now does 11% more abortions annually than they did before Take Charge.
It has also been a financial windfall for them as well. In 1999, when Take Charge was created, Planned Parenthood of Western Washington, the largest of the five Planned Parenthood regions in Washington, had $5.5 million in revenue. In 2008, after 8 years of Take Charge, their revenues had jumped to $27.3 million.
FPIW has a point.
The PPWW annual report for 2007 shows the number of pregnant women visiting its facilities from declining a whopping 51 percent from 2006. With Planned Parenthood spending millions on public relations campaign saying it wants to reduce the number of abortions, the staggering decline should lead to fewer abortions. Not so.
The PPWW annual report indicates abortions actually rose 16 percent from 7,790 in 2006 to 9,059 in 2007. The report also reveals that the percentage of pregnancies ending in abortions at Planned Parenthood of Western Washington rose from 18 percent in 2004 to 25 percent in 2006 to 58 percent in 2007.
This is all despite sales of over 106,000 emergency contraception kits to Planned Parenthood customers.
This is the same Planned Parenthood abortion business that has been accused of hiring unlicensed nurses, overlooking safety standards for women’s health, tried to force a raped teen to have an abortion, and recently sent a woman to the hospital after a botched abortion.
Contact your legislators at 1-800-562-6000 and ask them to oppose SB 5912.
