President Bush's proposed budget for fiscal year 2009 shows no love for family planning.
Paula Gianino, president of Planned Parenthood for the St. Louis region, said the budget slices $570 million from family planning services offered through Medicaid in 2009. The budget calls for $3 billion to be cut from the services during the next five years, she said. As a result, Gianino said the cost of service at any Planned Parenthood would be on the rise to make up for the lack of federal dollars.
"A lot of college students come to Planned Parenthood because of the federal funding we receive," she said. "We're able to provide care for very little expense. These cuts will have dramatic impact on everyone who's committed to providing public health care."
Carbondale is without a Planned Parenthood Clinic, but Gianino said similar services are offered through state university health centers.
The SIUC Student Health Center was outfitted with a Valentine's Day display, which featured self-help relationship pamphlets, peppermint patties and free condoms for anyone to pick up. Fortunately for the Student Health Center, Bush's cuts will not affect its cost of service. Jacob Baggot, the center's associate director, said the facility is completely funded by student fees - not federal or state dollars.
Baggott said the Student Health Center is meant to be a care provider for students without health care plans like Medicaid.
Christy Hamilton, coordinator of sexual health and relationship services at the Student Health Center, said the facility might be better than a Planned Parenthood Clinic for college-aged women. She said Carbondale has an advantage that most communities do not by having a facility like the Adolescent Health Center on Wall Street, which services patients younger than age 25.
"Never again in your entire life will you have such easy, affordable access to improve your health, maintaining your health or changing to a healthy lifestyle," she said.
Gianino said the proposed budget does not increase funding for Title X, which includes a federal family planning program. More than $100 million is needed to fill budget gaps already in the Title X program, she said.
Carla Griffin, director of nursing for the Jackson County Health Department, said the county's Family Planning Clinic in Murphysboro is funded by Title X, but did not know what effect Bush's budget would have on the program.
Griffin said the Murphysboro clinic receives Title X funding through the state.
"Certainly, it's a program constantly under-funded," she said.
Most of the contraceptives available at the clinic faced significant price surges last December when the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 expired. The act had been keeping contraceptives, such as NuvaRing, priced at about $11.50 instead of their current cost of $40. Baggott said the increasing costs of contraception is still an issue that has expanded since December.
The Student Health Center offers services similar to a Planned Parenthood Clinic, such as counseling and birth control options. But unlike most Planned Parenthoods, the Student Health Center is able to give female patients necessary exams for certain types of birth control since doctors are in the facility.
The cuts, if approved, would have an impact on women of all ages, Gianino said.
"This is funding that even state governments on local levels rely on," she said.
Daily Egyptian wrtier Barton Lorimor can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 274 or barton.lorimor@siude.com.
