Planned Parenthood to Receive Funding Boost from Bankrupt State of Washington

We've written about and led the charge against the Take Charge "Family Planning" program for years.

It is basically a decade old program which funnels millions of taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood affiliates of Washington in a way that makes everybody say, "Look, we are helping to decrease the need for abortion."

NARAL was the first to celebrate the Olympia House Democrats' new "austerity" budget:

"While there are many steep cuts in critical programs and services, the House budget not only protects family planning funds, it expands eligibility in the Take Charge Medicaid family planning program. This means that more women will be able to access birth control, STD screening and treatment, and other basic medical care."

It's interesting that they were the first to know. Readers will also observe that NARAL exists for one and only one reason: abortions here, abortions there, abortions absolutely everywhere.

This is the actual text from the Washington House Democratic budget summary:

Eligibility for the Take Charge program, which provides family planning services for adults under 200 percent of the federal poverty level, will expand to cover adults under 250 percent of the federal poverty level. Savings are expected from reducing unplanned pregnancies. Approximately 45.6 percent of Washington births are reimbursed through the Medical Assistance program.

If you look at their budget, they are actually booking this as a budget cut of more than $7 million! Yes, we just have to repeat this one. The people who gave us a $5 billion budget deficit increased spending (by $2-3 million) and called it a $7 million cut. Even the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) which administers the program didn't do that when they proposed cutting the program last year to help balance the budget.

As Dan Kennedy from Human Life of Washington pointed out:

"So now we know the priorities of the Olympia Democrats budget. They are writing checks to Planned Parenthood with your money. Apparently subsidizing sexual activity is more important than feeding the poor, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, and caring for the sick. Are these the priorities they should have? You may want to let them know how you feel about it. LEGISLATIVE HOTLINE 1-800-562-6000"

At Governor Gregoire's 2010 Everett townhall, we personally delivered to her and the panel of experts she organized an information sheet on Take Charge with data clearly showing that Take Charge doesn't work. It simply doesn't deliver the promised decrease in costs.

Here's the truth we reported to them:

When the program began, the state was paying out $200 million a year for childbirth services under Medicaid. That figure has shot up 50%, to $300 million under the program.

The state’s primary subcontractor for Take Charge, Planned Parenthood of Western Washington, has seen their annual revenues skyrocket from about $17 million to near $35 million since the program was started. According to Planned Parenthood of Western Washington’s latest Annual Report: “Over the previous 5-year period, approximately 70% of our clinic visits were covered by Take Charge." The state is then left to cover the cost of an abortion or a Medicaid birth.

We also know that PP's abortion numbers have sky-rocketed since Take Charge was initiated. The frightening thing to ponder now is: Will Planned Parenthood and the state start putting more pressure on Medicaid eligible women to abort to make the Take Charge numbers look better?

It's not too late to end this madness. We're calling on the state senate to strip this ideologically-driven, extremist provision in their budget and cut this failed program once and for all.