This is the last week of the 2009 legislative session and our state lawmakers have yet to approve a budget for Washington State, leaving the fate of family planning funding unknown.  In these final days of session, we need your help more than ever.

Please contact your legislators and the Governor, to tell them the final budget agreed upon by the House and Senate must include $9 million in family planning funding.  More information is provided in the talking points below.  If you can, please take time to personalize your letter.  Telling your story will make a bigger impact on legislators.

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

Please make sure the final budget reflects at least 9 million dollars for family planning - as proposed by the Senate and the Governor. Washington can't afford to eliminate family planning funds as proposed by the House.

The House has said the federal government will fill this family planning funding hole and if they don't, the legislature will fix it next year. That's just not a smart approach. We can't depend on a federal government that has already passed on opportunities to make family planning fixes, and we shouldn't wait until next year when finding the funding could be even harder. We need the full 9 million for this family planning funding in the budget now, like the Governor's and Senate's budgets propose.

Our state can fund family planning now, or pay much more within the next two years! Every 1 million dollar cut to family planning will likely cost Washington State 4 million dollars in unintended pregnancy costs. In these tough times, we cannot afford to cut family planning.

Thank you for doing everything you can to make sure the final budget includes at least 9 million dollars in family planning funding.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
April 20, 2009