Midlands Voices: Planned Parenthood attack unwarranted

By Randall Moody

(The writer is a board member for Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and a national co-chair for the Republican Advisory Board of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.)

As a Republican, it was both puzzling and alarming to me that Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts announced recently that his proposed state budget would contain a provision to ban federal health care funds from being distributed to organizations that provide abortion care (“Ricketts budget plan would end state funding to health clinics that offer abortions,” Omaha World-Herald, Jan. 9).

The federal program, Title X, is a grant distributed to states or other local entities to fund family planning for those of lower income or who otherwise cannot use their insurance.

This program makes many basic preventive services accessible, including contraceptive information and services, annual exams, cancer screenings, STD testing and treatment, HPV testing and vaccinations and services for survivors of sexual assault, as well as education services about pregnancy prevention for men and women of all ages.

These services help prevent thousands of unintended pregnancies, lower the rates of sexually transmitted infections and help detect pre-cancers and cancers. They help save lives.

FULL story: http://www.omaha.com/opinion/plus/midlands-voices-planned-parenthood-attack-unwarranted/article_44fcf730-80ec-5ed2-b1c7-eb92a462ef70.html#tncms-source=article-nav-next