Sometimes I read something that someone else has written and it’s just to good not to repeat.  This is from an editorial in the 17 May 2011 issue of “The Christian Century”

“The attack on Planned Parenthood is part of a broader assault on the sexual health of low-income women, evident in the House’s vote to eliminate funding for Title X, the federal program that since 1970 has provided low-income women with birth control, cancer screenings and testing from HIV and other STDs.  In signing the bill into law, President Nixon stated what until recently was an uncontroversial, bipartisan conviction: ‘No American woman should be denied access to family planning assistance because of her economic condition.’

“If the goal is indeed to reduce the number of abortions, then it is absurd to defund programs like Title X that help reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies.  The Guttmacher Institute, a leading authority on reproductive health, estimates that in 2008 Title X-supported family planning centers ‘helped women and couples avoid 93,000 unintended pregnancies, which would have resulted in 433,000 unplanned births and 406,000 abortions.’  If they were truly serious about reducing abortions, legislators would be calling for increasing the Title X budget, not cutting it.

“It is also absurd to attack women’s health programs under the banner of fiscal austerity.  The money involved is negligible, but if saving money is the issue, the numbers line up on the side of supporting Title X.  According to Guttmacher, by helping women avoid unintended pregnancies, Title X-supported centers saved taxpayers almost $4 for every $1 spent on contraceptive care.

“Anyone who cares about women’s health, fiscal responsibility and reducing abortions will support Title X and programs like Planned Parenthood.”