Missouri House Bans Funding for Contraception

Proving they too don't care about reducing unwanted pregnancy and abortion rates, Missouri House Republicans voted to ban state funding of contraceptives for low-income women and prohibit state-funed programs from referring those women to other programs.

The proposal's sponsor, Republican Rep. Susan Phillips, said paying for contraception is an 'inappropriate' use of tax dollars, even though it will not save the state money. Instead, it imposes restrictions on how state agencies can spend $9.23 million earmarked for public-health programs for the poor. "If doctors want to give contraception privately or personally, they can," Phillips said. "But we don’t need to pay for contraception with taxpayer funds."

Rep. Bob Johnson, a 'common sense' Republican, introduced an amendment to reinstate the funding for contraceptives, but it failed by a 100-53 vote; nearly all Republicand and a handful of Democrats voted against it:

"If we don’t allow for contraception for low-income women, we will have more unplanned pregnancies and more pregnancies ended by abortion," Johnson said. "No one here wants more abortions."

He drew support from Rep. Rob Schaaf, a St. Joseph Republican and a family doctor. Schaaf said contraceptives were a basic part of medical care and should be covered.

Rep. Rachel Storch, a St. Louis Democrat, pointed to a study that found the teenage birth rate in Missouri dropped 32 percent from 1991 to 2002. The drop was attributed to wider availability of contraceptives.

Those who voted in favor of this ban clearly don't care about reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions in Missouri. The anti-choice crowd is on a rampage and they won't stop until all of their twisted policies are in place. Women, it's time to wake up.