Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
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It is no secret that U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, believes abortion is immoral and should not be available to women under any circumstances. But he now is pushing to limit family planning services for low-income Americans because he believes it will reduce the number of abortions.
In a recent e-mail to supporters, King announced that he has signed on to a bill offered by U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., that would stop all Title X Family Planning funding to any medical provider that also performs abortion services, effectively ending payment of medical care that served roughly 5 million low-income men and women in 2008.
Although federal law via the Hyde Amendment prohibits use of any public money for abortion services, King contends that such Title X funding is a “government subsidy” of “the immoral act of abortion” that “ensure[s] that this perverse pro-choice message is not falling on deaf ears.”
“Rather than furthering a public good, abortion sends the message that life is cheap and expendable,” King said. “The sanctity of life must be protected. We cannot cheapen it by allowing it to be disposed of because it is viewed as an inconvenience.”
The worst offender, he says, is Planned Parenthood Federation of America, which, according to King’s figures, completes far more abortions annually than adoptions. King makes no note of how many individuals are provided with family planning services — including birth control pills or prenatal care — by Planned Parenthood while stating his case.
“America is being consumed by increasing levels of public debt, and tough spending decisions will need to be made to get it under control,” King said. “One item we should certainly eliminate is the billion dollar subsidy for organizations that are engaged in snuffing out the very lives of the most innocent.”
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — the agency that oversees the Title X Family Planning program — funding distributed through the program is, by law, done with a priority to persons from low-income families. Also, Title X is the only federal grant program dedicated solely to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related preventative health services.
In fiscal year 2010, Congress appropriated approximately $317 billion for family planning activities supported under Title X. At least 90 percent of that appropriation is used for clinical family planning services such as contraception, patient education and counseling, breast and pelvic examination, cancer screenings, testing for HIV/AIDS and other sexually-transmitted infections, and pregnancy testing.
By law, according to the HHS website, Title X funds may not be used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning. Title X funding recipients must be able to demonstrate through financial records, protocols, procedures and other means that Title X funding does not go toward “the provision, promotion or encouragement of abortion” as a method of family planning.
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