Stanley Cox Compares Family Planning Funding to Giving an Alcoholic Money for Rent

Once again, extremists in the House have a fundamental misunderstanding of what Missourians need.

The latest wave of confusion comes in the form of anti-women’s health bill HB1375 and mandates a senseless, austere accounting process for family planning providers receiving federal Title X funding. Sponsored by Rep. Stanley Cox, HB1375 was created to ensure Title X family planning funding is not used to provide, or assist in providing, abortions. When defending the legislation, Cox illustrated his argument by comparing family planning funding to giving an alcoholic money for rent.

There are a few problems with this bill.

It’s already illegal. Under strict federal law, Title X funding is prohibited from the provision, promotion, or encouragement of abortion as a method of family planning, and has been since 1970. In order to receive Title X funding, recipients must already confirm through detailed financial records, protocols and procedures, their compliance with the statute. HB1375 places unnecessary and redundant regulation on now-complying health care providers.

Missouri ended its state family planning services in 2003. Without federal Title X funding, Missouri would receive no family planning assistance after terminating state funding over a decade ago. Because of Title X funding, numerous facilities across the state are able to provide preventative health care to low-income and uninsured women. Services include lifesaving breast and cervical cancer screenings, HIV tests and administering contraception. HB1375 imposes demanding accounting requirements on essential federal services that Missouri stopped appropriating.

Title X funding is vital for women’s health AND saves Missouri money. According to the Guttmacher Institute, without family planning services, the number of unintended pregnancies in Missouri would be 28% higher. The number of abortions would be 48% higher. By preventing unintended pregnancies, every dollar spent on family planning saves taxpayers nearly six dollars. In 2010, Title X funding saved Missouri $72.2 million in public funds. HB1375 restricts efficient allocation of taxpayer dollars with added irrelevant regulation.

HB1375 is a futile attempt to solve a non-existing problem and is burdensome to critical health services that thousands of Missouri women rely on. The Missouri Legislature needs to stop playing games with women’s health and focus on an agenda that improves it, like expanding Medicaid.