States Slash Birth Control Subsidies as Federal Debate Rages

Reuters ^ | Fri Mar 2, 2012 5:28pm EST | By Stephanie Simon

[fight_truth_decay]

* Biggest impact being felt in Texas

* Lawmakers say they have no choice

* Cuts could cost more than save - study

Even as a national debate rages over contraception insurance, tens of thousands of low-income women and teenagers across the United States have lost access to subsidized birth control as states slash and restructure family planning funds.

Montana and New Jersey have eliminated altogether their state family planning programs. New Hampshire cut its funding by 57 percent and five other states made more modest program trims.

But the biggest impact, by far,Texas.

State lawmakers last fall cut family-planning funds by two-thirds, or nearly $74 million over two years. Within months, half the state-supported family planning clinics in Texas had closed.

The state network, which once provided 220,000 women a year free and low-cost birth control, cervical cancer tests and diabetes screenings, will now serve just 40,000 to 60,000, officials said.

Another 130,000 low-income Texas women who get free exams and contraceptives through Medicaid could lose those benefits by month's end, due to a dispute between the state and federal governments over whether Planned Parenthood should be allowed to serve women on that program.

At the People's Community Clinic in Austin, the cuts mean that many low-income patients, except the very poorest, are now charged for contraception that used to be free: $5 for a dozen condoms; $10 for a month of birth control pills; $225 for an IUD.

"I have no clue what I'm going to do," said Rhetta Pope, 22, of Austin. A stay-at-home mother of two, she lives off disability payments of less than $1,500 a month.

Pope said after paying basic living expenses, she has so little left she scrimps on electricity by keeping the lights off and takes her laundry to an aunt's house.

[fight_truth_decay]

It takes 2 to Tango--!

The local watering hole, Men's Room Condom Dispenser could read:

Attention! If you do not want This Woman to be the mother of your children
Atención! Si usted no quiere a esta mujer para ser La Madre de sus hijos

Cost of a Condom: $.29 cents
El costo de un condón: $ 0.29 centavos de dólar

Cost of a Child to the age of 18: $226,920
El costo de un niño a la edad de 18 años: $ 226.920

******************************************************

*100 Condom Special Sampler .$29 cents a condom CondomDepot For only $29!

*A middle-income family cost to raise a child born in 2010 to the age of 18,
the U.S. Department of Agriculture has said in a report - Bloomberg

For less than the cost of the your next beer...

[impimp]

The use of a condom is a sin against God. All societies that deny this truth will implode.

[Vaduz]

Wonder if people with std’s agree?.

[elpadre]

I understand that most if not all provide Viagra or similar sex aids to men at no cost. This, too, must stop!!

[elpadre]

correction:

I understand that most if not all states, through medicaid, provide Viagra or similar sex aids to men at no cost. This, too, must stop!!

[Dilbert San Diego]

Are we allowed to talk about sex here?

I will not be inflammatory, but just want to gently say, that certain things have to happen to cause pregnancy. If people choose to do the things which cause pregnancy, then they leave themselves open to that happening.

The unspoken unwritten elephant in the room on this subject is the assumption that sex will take place, regardless of birth control. If these girls avoid people and situations which get them in trouble, that would help solve this whole problem.

And, for every pregnancy, there is a male out there who was involved. Does he have any accountability at all?

These articles make it sound like pregnancy is something that just happens to females for some unknown reason.

[PGalt]

DEFUND socialist collectives, foreign and domestic. REDUCE taxes accordingly. Once socialism is DEFUNDED, state and federal legislatures can be part-time jobs with no benefits, no healthcare, no retirement, no perks. Legislators can get a job and do something productive not progressive.

[PGalt]

WOOOOOHOOOOOO Texas! Thanks for posting.

[Mercat]

Is Ms. Pope married? I’m guessing not. Are the fathers of her children (sorry but am assuming that there are two fathers since there are two children) contributing to their support? I’m guessing not. Is she having sex with strangers who would not be willing to either pay for the condom or support any resulting child? If she is and he won’t then she’s an idiot of the first order.

I’m a domestic lawyer. I’m seeing lots of moms claiming disability due to depression. Well who wouldn’t be depressed if she had no values, slept around, and didn’t get off her behind and look for work. This society is telling girls and young women that the government will take care of them so they don’t have to either take care of themselves or find a man who will. First we convinced the old folks that the government would take care of them and on and on. And the government is broke. And us old folks are retiring and tired of supporting everyone else.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks fight_truth_decay.

[rcofdayton]

Now what was that word that Rush used to describe Ms. Fluke?

[what's up]

Even as a national debate rages over contraception insurance, tens of thousands of low-income women and teenagers across the United States have lost access to subsidized birth control as states slash and restructure family planning funds.

Ah, so this is probably why Sebellius went ahead with her heavy-handed mandate on religious organizations.

I was wondering why she and Obama plunged into the contraception order at this time; it seemed politically tone-deaf judging from the outroar it caused, and led even democrat law-makers to protest.

But the Marxists may see this as THE issue which will cause Fed Gov't to fill the gap as states fail on "women's health", giving them the "surge" they need to take control over all healthcare.

This article makes the events of the last 3 weeks or so a little clearer.

[packrat35]

$5 for a dozen condoms; $10 for a month of birth control pills; $225 for an IUD.

So how many of these would it take to reach $1000 a year like that Fluke girl claimed.

[packrat35]

Yep, next thing you know they’ll be testifying before democrats in Congress!

[GeronL]

Not having sex is never an option for these people, has anyone noticed that?

[fight_truth_decay]

Let her bfs pay..they want it they can pay, probably buying dinner anyway--so why not whatever precaution they seem necessary. They will have to pay for child support, so can just as well pay for contraception if they do not want children at this time. Fluke is just another Cindy Sheehan--a tool for the Left but this time they made her look more respectable--even though she is clearly an activist and has been so for several years--she is clearly not some little college student "who has lost her way" ba, ba baaaaaa.

Blogger: Gateway pundit "she was described as a 23-year-old coed. Magically, at the same time Congress is debating the forced coverage of contraception, she appears and is even brought to Capitol Hill to testify. This morning, in an interview with Matt Lauer on the Today show, it was revealed that she is 30 years old, NOT the 23 that had been reported all along.n other words, folks, you are being played. She has been an activist all along and the Dems were just waiting for the appropriate time to play her."

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi announcedthe House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee would hold a hearing Thursday, February 23, 2012, on the issue of women’s health. The sole witness at the hearing will be [Past President of Georgetown LSRJ] Ms. Sandra Fluke, a third-year law student at Georgetown University, who was blocked from testifying at a recent Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing by Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA). Instead, Chairman Issa brought forward a panel of all men to testify on this topic.

"Fluke was brought to respond to efforts by US Catholic Bishops to limit contraceptive access at Catholic universities on CSPAN. "