Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Editorial: Planned Parenthood a worthy investment
Opponents of choice find a new excuse to fight state funding for the organization.
From the RoundTable blog
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Leave it to the Family Foundation to miss the lesson of Election Day. Virginians rejected hard-core social conservatism, but the self-described protectors of traditional values dive ever further to the right.
Their hostility toward a woman's right to choose so blinds them that they twist any situation to suit their agenda, including the commonwealth's budget woes.
Virginia is strapped for cash. State revenue is expected to fall at least $3.2 billion short of original forecasts. That means the budget lawmakers had approved is in for some serious cuts. Gov. Tim Kaine already proposed some, but more will be necessary.
If the state is cutting, the Family Foundation suggested last week, it should start by eliminating its contribution to Planned Parenthood.
The foundation, for its part, has always opposed giving public dollars to Planned Parenthood. It hopes this new attack will be more successful than past attempts.
Planned Parenthood, like every other entity that receives state funding, should not expect to escape the coming cuts unscathed. Yet Richmond also should not single it out.
Planned Parenthood receives all of $250,000 per year from Virginia, less than 0.01 percent of the needed cuts. Sure every bit helps, but eliminating the funding is not going to protect education and law enforcement.
The organization relies on state funding to provide a number of valuable services that ultimately save the commonwealth money. The Family Foundation gets wound up because Planned Parenthood provides abortions, but that is only a small part of its family planning activities.
It also provides contraceptives and reproductive education that help prevent unwanted pregnancies, which in turn, reduces the number of abortions.
And when pregnancies do occur, Planned Parenthood offers health exams to women who could not otherwise afford them, fostering healthy, successful pregnancies.
All of which means there are fewer needy, unhealthy women and children who require a host of costly state services, including expensive medical support.
Virginia lawmakers fund Planned Parenthood because it is a successful investment. That has not changed.
