Foes Seek to De-Fund, Discredit Planned Parenthood

US Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) has introduced a bill that would deny federal family planning funds to any organization that performs abortions, placing the more than $70 million Planned Parenthood receives annually in jeopardy. Though Title X funds cannot be used directly for abortions, Pence maintains the grants free up other funds such groups use to offer the procedure.

Lending momentum are the recently published, covertly taped videos showing a man posing as a pimp and a woman posing as a prostitute seeking health services for underage sex workers at a half-dozen Planned Parenthood clinics in New Jersey, New York, and Virginia. The tapes were released by the anti-abortion group Live Action. Planned Parenthood officials fired one clinic manager who offered advice to the pair, but said other clinic staffers responded appropriately and reported the visits to their supervisors.

For Planned Parenthood officials, these actions represent the latest attacks on women's ability to get the reproductive health services they choose. "We are a safe place where people can go and ask difficult questions about sex," said President Cecile Richards.

Abortions represent only a small fraction of the Planned Parenthood's services provided. The group primarily offers contraception, STD testing, and cancer screenings, and many of its clients are low-income women who otherwise cannot access non-emergency health care. "We've been here for the past 95 years, and we'll be here for the next 95," said Richards.

With an annual budget of $1 billion, Planned Parenthood could survive a loss of Title X grants, though it would be forced to shutter some clinics and serve fewer clients, said Richards.

On Thursday, Virginia's House of Delegates voted to ban not only state but also local government funding of the organization. Del. Robert Marshall, the measure's sponsor, objects to Planned Parenthood's role in providing abortions and he holds it responsible for broader phenomena like out-of-wedlock pregnancies and adolescent sex and STDs.

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