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Providers Applaud the President's Commitment to Family Planning
02/26/2009 - Statement by Mary Jane Gallagher, President & CEO, National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association
Contact Allison Conyers
202.293.3114 x204
202.834.7143
"Family Planning providers are ecstatic about the bold step towards universal health care that President Obama has laid out in the Fiscal Year 2010 budget outline he will submit to Congress this morning. We are thrilled that the President articulated a commitment to fix our broken health care system while ensuring access to family planning services in his budget outline.
The inclusion of a provision to expand eligibility for Medicaid funded family planning services is a tremendous step forward in meeting the need for access to family planning services. Federal funding for family planning is a common sense, common ground solution that enables people to act responsibly, stay healthy and plan for strong families.
If we are ever to meet the needs of the more than 17.5 million women of child bearing age with inadequate access to quality reproductive health care, we must also substantially invest in the Title X family planning program. Title X has proven effective in reducing the number of unintended pregnancies and the need for abortion, common goals we all share. It is therefore vital that Title X be funded at $700 million in FY 2010, something then-Senator Obama supported as a co-sponsor of the Prevention First Act.
Now, Members of Congress must step forward and do their part to support this budget, its provision for a new reserve fund for health care reform and a significant investment in family planning services.
Investing in federal funding for family planning will better the quality of life for millions of low-income and uninsured women and families, while saving hundreds of millions of tax payer dollars. Our nation's family planning providers look forward to a significant investment in reproductive health care to assist the millions of women and families who are currently in need."
The National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA) is a vital membership organization of dedicated family planning providers--public health departments, hospitals, general health providers and stand-alone reproductive health caregivers.
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