Limited options
At the end of Judith Davidoff’s article, “Betting on a Long-Term Strategy” (2/4/2016), Nicole Safar, Planned Parenthood’s policy director in Wisconsin, expresses her concern that, unlike Planned Parenthood, the state health agencies that compete for Title X funds would not provide information about abortion as part of the “all options pregnancy counseling” that Title X rules require.
It does seem that there should be concern about the very limited options Planned Parenthood and state health agencies provide for the “low-income and uninsured men and women” the Title X program is designed to serve. In order to make an informed decision about their long-term strategy for themselves and their children, women who come into Planned Parenthood or state health agencies with positive pregnancy tests need to know how they can get insurance, housing and childcare; how — married or unmarried — the state makes sure fathers pay child support for up to 18 years; where distance-learning education programs are offered; what flex-time employment options are available; and much more.
LuAnne Feik (via email)
Correction
Planned Parenthood distributes a total of $700,000 to subcontractors First Choice Women’s Health Center in Janesville and Essential Health Clinic in La Crosse, not $700,000 each, as was erroneously reported in last week’s news story “Betting on a Long-Term Strategy.”