Rebloggable by request:

I’m visiting my dad and he’s insisting Obama starting the federal funding of Planned Parenthood. Help!

Anonymous

Meg at Cognitive Dissonance:

Nope. Thank this guy:

That would be Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th President of the United States. Planned Parenthood’s federal funding was started by Nixon under Title X. Here’s his statement on it:

“I called for a national commitment to provide adequate family planning services within the next 5 years to all those who want them but cannot afford them. It was clear that the domestic family planning services supported by the Federal Government were not adequate to provide information and services to all who want them on a voluntary basis. To implement this national commitment, I asked for expanded research in contraceptive development and the behavioral sciences, reorganization of family planning service activities within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and legislation which would help the Department to implement this important program by providing broader and more precise legislative authority and a clearer source of financial support. The National Center for Family Planning Services was established in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare shortly after my message. The bill before me today, the "Family Planning Services and Population Research Act of 1970,” completes the legislation I requested in my message on population. This measure provides for expanded research, training of manpower, and increased family planning services. In addition, it provides for the development of family planning and population growth information and education. It is noteworthy that this landmark legislation on family planning and population has had strong bipartisan support.“

See, back in the day, the Republican Party was much less against contraception and family planning than they are now. Let me repeat that: Republicans in 1970 were more supportive of welfare, contraception, and access to both than they are now. Tell your dad "citation needed, bro.”

Bonus points! Here’s why public funding of contraception is important from the nonpartisan Guttmacher Institute:

• Publicly funded family planning services help women to avoid pregnancies they do not want and to plan pregnancies they do. In 2006, these services helped women avoid 1.94 million unintended pregnancies, which would likely have resulted in about 860,000 unintended births and 810,000 abortions. • Contraceptive services provided at publicly funded clinics helped prevent 1.48 million of these unintended pregnancies; the remaining 450,000 unintended pregnancies were prevented among Medicaid enrollees who received publicly funded contraceptive services from private physicians. • Without publicly funded family planning services, the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions occurring in the United States would be nearly two-thirds higher among women overall and among teens; the number of unintended pregnancies among poor women would nearly double. • Contraceptive services provided at Title X-supported centers helped prevent 973,000 unintended pregnancies in 2008, which would likely have resulted in 432,600 unintended births and 406,200 abortions. • The services provided at publicly funded clinics saved the federal and state governments an estimated $5.1 billion in 2008; services provided at Title X–supported clinics accounted for $3.4 billion of that total. • In other words, nationally, every $1.00 invested in helping women avoid pregnancies they did not want to have saved $3.74 in Medicaid expenditures that otherwise would have been needed.

Success!

Tell your dad to email me. He sounds interesting.

Cheers,

Meg