July 19, 2012

GOP Budget Slashes Planned Parenthood Funding

<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-67992p1.html?cr=00&pl=edit-00">michael rubin</a> / <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/?cr=00&pl=edit-00">Shutterstock.com</a>

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


The Planned Parenthood wars are back on in Congress. On Tuesday, Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) released a Labor, Health & Human Services and Education appropriations bill that would slash funding for Planned Parenthood and any other abortion providers.

The bill is a grab-bag of nearly everything Republicans want on reproductive issues. In addition to cutting off funds needed to implement President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, it eliminates Title X family planning funds, allows employers to opt-out of covering contraception or pretty much any other medical care on the basis of “religious beliefs or moral convictions,” and creates $20 million in “abstinence education” grants.

The bill states that Planned Parenthood could continue to get federal funds—if it stops offering abortions.

Markups on the bill were held Wednesday morning, and it’s likely going to be used as a “starting point” for budget negotiations with the Democrat-controlled Senate, the Huffington Post reports.

WE'LL BE BLUNT:

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate