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Restore Family Planning Funding!
With one day’s notice, we at Planned Parenthood of Georgia were notified that funding for family planning clinics in Georgia had been drastically cut. While Governor Perdue required that all state programs be cut by 6%, family planning funding was slashed by a whopping 34%!
This funding cut means a loss of nearly half a million dollars to Planned Parenthood of Georgia’s annual budget. By any standard, that’s a lot. But what troubles me most is that this funding cut amounts to no less than a public health crisis for women and families in our state.
The truth is, this cut is shortsighted. The loss of these family planning dollars means that thousands of Georgia women, men and teens must pay more for preventive health care. If higher prices prevent vulnerable women from getting the birth control they need, we will ultimately end up paying more for the cost of unintended pregnancies.
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Restore Family Planning Funding!
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
By signing this petition I am joining people all across Georgia who insist that affordable, preventive health care be made accessible to the women and men of Georgia. I am opposed to the family planning budget cuts and I am deeply offended and outraged by the disproportionate decrease in family planning dollars. These cuts will certainly increase the rates of unintended pregnancies, teen pregnancies, abortions, STIs, high risk pregnancies and poor birth outcomes in our state. I stand with the vast majority of Georgians who favor proactive measures that will reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and improve the health of Georgia families.
Stop playing political games with women's lives - PREVENTION, not intervention, is the key!
Signed by:
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Campaign Launched:
November 17, 2008
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RESTORE FAMILY PLANNING FUNDING!
Overview: Governor Perdue is proposing wide ranging budget cuts to meet a projected $1.6 billion budget shortfall. These cuts affect many human services programs and include a dramatic cut in family planning funding. The current family planning budget is $22 million. Governor Perdue has proposed a cut of $7.5 million (34%) for FY 2009 and $10 million (45%) for FY 2010. Family planning services in Georgia are already chronically underfunded, never reaching more than 40-50% of the number of women who need publicly funded services. Implementation of these cuts has already begun. The result of these cuts will certainly be increased rates of unintended pregnancies, teen pregnancies, abortions, STIs, high risk pregnancies and poor birth outcomes in our state.
Ø Publicly funded family planning services help women avoid the pregnancies they do not want and to plan the pregnancies they do. Without family planning funding many more Georgia women would face unintended pregnancies and the abortion rate in Georgia would be 50% higher.
Ø The best way to prevent unintended pregnancies is to ensure that women and families have access to contraceptive services. Publicly funded family planning clinics in Georgia help women prevent 46,600 unintended pregnancies each year.
Ø Family planning funding is an investment in the health and well being in the families of Georgians. Georgia’s public expenditures for family planning services in 2004 were $17 million saving the state $186 million from averted births.
Ø In Georgia, for every $1.00 spent to provide services to the network of publicly funded family planning clinics; approximately $10.94 is saved in Medicaid expenditures.
Ø Improving health before pregnancy makes a big difference for mothers and babies alike. Family planning is critical to healthy childbearing because it helps to increase the intervals between births, and reduce the numbers of unintended pregnancies and high risk pregnancies. Family planning visits allow potentially dangerous conditions to be identified and treated before pregnancy, thus reducing the risk to mother and baby.
Ø Family planning clinics routinely provide HIV testing and screening and treatment of STIs. Georgia ranks 3rd highest in the number of syphilis cases, 5th highest for the number of gonorrhea cases, 8th highest for Chlamydia rates and 7th highest in the number of reported AIDS cases.
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