Planned Parenthood reduces abortions and saves government billions-- So why end funding?

House Republicans passed a bill that denies all federal funding to Planned Parenthood on Friday.


Supporters of the amendment claim that defunding family planning centers is fiscally responsible and will help prevent abortions.


Under the same banner of moral and fiscal responsibility, I've listed some statistics from the Guttmacher Institute (a non-profit research organization):

• Among the women who receive care at a publicly funded family planning center, 60 percent consider the center their usual source of medical care (2006).
• One in three women who were tested for HIV or received testing, treatment, or counseling for other sexually transmitted infections did so at a publicly funded family planning center (2002).
• Seventeen percent of all women, including 39 percent of poor women, who received a Pap test or pelvic screening in 2002 did so at a publicly funded family planning center.
• Without publicly funded family planning services, the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions in the United States would be nearly two-thirds higher. Among poor women, the number would double.
• Nationally, every dollar invested in helping women avoid pregnancies they did not want to have saves the government $3.74 in Medicaid expenditures that would have otherwise been needed (2008).

So...Funding family planning centers like Planned Parenthood actually reduces abortions, helps save women's lives, AND saves the government billions of dollars. Then what's the problem, GOP?


Before the bill reaches the Senate, show Congress that you support Planned Parenthood by filling out this open letter.