SACRAMENTO, Calif. (BP)–The country’s leading abortion provider is calling on California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to restore $36 million in proposed cuts to family planning funds.
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America made the request of Schwarzenegger after the Republican governor proposed the cuts in response to the state’s financial crisis. Planned Parenthood said no family planning funds from the government pay for abortions. Pro-life advocates, however, contend government grants for family planning free Planned Parenthood to use other money for abortion services.
Planned Parenthood “is on the frontline in ensuring that those in need receive essential health care,” providing services for more than 700,000 women in California, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said in a written statement. “These budget cuts will jeopardize our ability to provide essential health care.”
Planned Parenthood’s total revenue reached $1.04 billion in the most recent financial year, which extended from July 2007 to June 2008. More than $349 million of that figure came in government grants and contracts.
The organization’s affiliates recorded 305,310 abortions in 2007, the latest year for which statistics are available.
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Compiled by Tom Strode, Washington bureau chief for Baptist Press.
