Family Planning Report Discriminates Against Poor, Says Pro-Life Group
A pro-life group is alleging that the Guttmacher Institute, which released a report on family planning Tuesday, takes aim at the poor by recommending that more federal funds go toward programs that reduce the birth rate.
Guttmacher Institute, a research organization associated with Planned Parenthood Federation of America, released data on Tuesday that claimed publicly funded family planning saves the government billions of dollars.
The report found that such programs prevent nearly 2 million unintended pregnancies and more than 800,000 abortions in the United States each year.
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"The Guttmacher Institute and proponents of public funding of contraception apparently think that people are the greatest drain on our resources," commented Joseph M. Scheidler, founder and national director of the Pro-Life Action League.
A press release by Guttmacher Institute said publicly funded family planning services are "highly cost-effective," reasoning that avoiding the significant costs associated with unintended births by "disadvantaged women" saves taxpayers $4 for every $1 spent on family planning.
"Publicly funded family planning is basic health care that empowers disadvantaged women to decide for themselves when to become pregnant and how many children to have. It reduces recourse to abortion. And it saves significant amounts of taxpayer money," stated Rachel Benson Gold, the study's lead author.
Scheidler criticized the organization for taking particular aim at the poor.
"The assumption that people in the lower income brackets cannot take care of their children, and that their children will never contribute anything to society, is unfair and smacks of racism," said the pro-life leader.
"This attitude that the poor should not reproduce is right out of Margaret Sanger's playbook - she promoted the 'more from the fit; less from the unfit' concept of population control," remarked Scheidler.
The report also supported pending congressional legislation that would increase funding for Title X family planning.
Pro-family and pro-life groups have disagreed with Title X, which would largely benefit Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Although Title X funds cannot be used toward abortions, the groups argue that the taxpayers' money would free up other Planned Parenthood funds for its abortion services.
