{"id":134,"date":"2011-03-11T18:58:19","date_gmt":"2011-03-12T02:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oursilverribbon.org\/blog\/?p=134"},"modified":"2011-03-11T18:58:19","modified_gmt":"2011-03-12T02:58:19","slug":"murkowski-opposes-planned-parenthood-title-x-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oursilverribbon.org\/?p=134","title":{"rendered":"Murkowski opposes Planned Parenthood, Title X cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
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Murkowski opposes Planned Parenthood, Title X cuts<\/strong>
\nBy: Sarah Kliff\u00a0\u00a0 March 11, 2011 06:19 PM EST<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has come out in opposition to the House\u2019s attempts to defund Planned Parenthood, making her the first Republican senator to specifically support the beleaguered organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe Planned Parenthood provides vital services to those in need and disagree with their funding cuts in the bill,\u201d Murkowski wrote in a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Vice Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.). \u201cI ask you to consider these programs going forward to determine if there is room for allowing continued funding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murkowski\u2019s move follows that of Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who last week came out against the House vote to defund Title X, the only federal program dedicated to reproductive health issues.<\/p>\n

“Sen. Collins is a longtime supporter of the Title X family planning program, and she believes the House\u2019s decision to completely eliminate the funding is unwise,\u201d Collins spokesman Kevin Kelley said. \u201cThe program has successfully reduced the number of unplanned pregnancies, therefore helping to reduce health care costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Planned Parenthood receives Title X funding, which is defunded in the Republican spending bill. Planned Parenthood defunding was the subject of a separate amendment to the spending bill sponsored by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.).<\/p>\n

In an e-mail to a constituent, Murkowski expanded on her position, also taking shots at the House Republicans\u2019 attempts to end Title X funding. \u201cI do believe that Planned Parenthood provides vital services to those in need and disagree with its funding cuts contained in the H.R. 1 package,\u201d she wrote in a Friday e-mail, obtained by POLITICO. \u201cFrom 2002-2008, Planned Parenthood received $342 million in federal taxpayer money through Title X funding alone. With these funds, Planned Parenthood has provided women throughout the U.S. with important family planning and contraceptive services as well as screening for breast and cervical cancers for low-income women. I believe it is important that Title X organizations continue to receive funding. In Alaska, this includes five centers \u2014 two health department clinics, two Planned Parenthood clinics in Sitka and Soldotna and one independent clinic.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the House\u2019s long-term continuing resolution strips Planned Parenthood of all its federal funding, the letter comes on the heels of two, short-term continuing resolutions that leave their funding intact.<\/p>\n

Social conservatives have petitioned the House leadership to make the defunding of Planned Parenthood a \u201cnonnegotiable\u201d in their budget talks with the Senate. But leadership has given them no such a promise.<\/p>\n

Seven House Republicans voted against the amendment to defund Planned Parenthood during the continuing resolution debate.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Murkowski opposes Planned Parenthood, Title X cuts By: Sarah Kliff\u00a0\u00a0 March 11, 2011 06:19 PM EST Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has come out in opposition to the House\u2019s attempts to defund Planned Parenthood, making her the first Republican senator … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oursilverribbon.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oursilverribbon.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oursilverribbon.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oursilverribbon.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oursilverribbon.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/oursilverribbon.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oursilverribbon.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oursilverribbon.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oursilverribbon.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}