Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin May Cut Staff After Losing Taxpayer Dollars

The recently enacted Wisconsin state budget directs $1 million in state and federal family planning taxpayer dollars to public health agencies who are prohibited from giving the funds to groups like Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin (PPWI) which perform or refer for abortions.

In full whine, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin (PPWI) is complaining that this loss of funds will force it to cut services or staff. “This is a challenging time for us. We are evaluating all our options,” says a spokesperson for PPWI. In standard rhetoric mode, PPWI claims that 12,000 people in the PPWI client base will not have anywhere to go for non-abortion services and women will be hurt.

PPWI misses the main point — the dollars are still in place to provide services, but not at Planned Parenthood which is the state’s largest abortion provider. In 2009, PPWI performed 5,439 abortions in Wisconsin which comprised 64% of all state abortions. No wonder PPWI wants women in its offices for “health” services, because these women provide a client base for its abortion clinics.

As good as this news is, PPWI is only partially defunded. There is still more work to do and Wisconsin Right to Life will be in the forefront of getting the job done.

Barbara Lyons