A House budget panel is recommending that lawmakers eliminate funding for a family planning program for low-income Granite Staters.
That funding allows certain health centers to provide contraception, STI testing and other reproductive and sexual health care at no cost.
The program – known as Title X – has been at the center of political fights over reproductive rights in recent years, as Republicans on the Executive Council have withheld funding from Planned Parenthood and a handful of other health centers because they also provide abortions.
State audits have confirmed that no Title X funds are being used for abortions, but Republican councilors have portrayed them as an indirect subsidy.
The latest proposal would cut $840,000 per year in state funding for the four health centers remaining in the program, which are based in Manchester, Nashua, Coos County and the Lakes Region. (The program receives both state and federal funds.)
Cutting those services would affect around 2,300 patients, some of whom live in areas with limited health care options, Associate Health and Human Services Commissioner Patricia Tilley told lawmakers Tuesday.
She said that could impede efforts to prevent sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies.
“Without these funds, we will not have an opportunity for no cost contraception for a full range of contraceptive services for women,” she said.
But Rep. Maureen Mooney, a Merrimack Republican, said it’s a necessary “cost-saving measure” in a difficult budget year.
“Yes, I understand there are those that feel it shouldn't be cut,” she said, speaking during a meeting of a House Finance subcommittee Tuesday. “All of these are difficult decisions considering the situation.”
The subcommittee voted 5-4 in favor of the cut, which still has to go before the full House Finance Committee.
