|  Publicly-funded family planning services provide critical health care to low-income women, including cancer screens, breast exams, STI testing and treatment, and access to birth control.
Over 300,000 Wisconsin women are in need of publicly-supported family planning services. Only one-third of these women have access to this preventive care under existing programs and the rest go without health care. |
|
 |
| Women's Health Protected and Family Planning Services Preserved | | Planned Parenthood praises the state Legislature for passing a budget compromise last night that preserves and enhances access to health care for women and families. The Assembly voted 60-39 to pass the budget and the Senate voted 18-15.
Specifically, the Legislature kept the state's family planning system intact by:
Continuing to provide state funding for private family planning health centers, like Planned Parenthood.
Preserving the Medicaid Family Planning Waiver Program.
Protecting Wisconsin youth by rejecting the Assembly leadership's attempt to mandate abstinence-only education.
Rejecting the Gag Rule.
The Legislature moved to enhance women’s access to health care by approving the following:
Expanding access to the Family Planning Waiver Program by increasing eligibility to those living at 200% of the federal poverty level.
Increasing funding for the Well Woman Program, which provides mammograms, pap tests and other important health screenings for women ages 45 to 64.
Allocating funding to establish a colposcopy (cervical diagnostic test) clinic in a rural community in Wisconsin. |
|
|
|
|
|
Access to Family Planning Services Keeps Women and Families Healthy:
• Wisconsin's family planning clinics provide cervical cancer tests, breast exams, STI testing and treatment, access to birth control and other preventative health services.
• It is estimated that Wisconsin's family planning clinics avert 21,700 unintended pregnancies and 10,850 abortions each year (The Guttmacher Institute).
• Family planning programs reduce the transmission of STIs, promote early detection of breast and cervical cancer and increase the likelihood that women receive prenatal care and experience healthy pregnancies.
Supporting Family Planning is Cost-Effective:
• Family planning is cost effective. Each dollar spent on family planning services saves an estimated $3.80 by preventing unintended pregnancies and providing preventative health care. (The Guttmacher Institute).
• The Family Planning Waiver, which covers 64,000 low-income Wisconsin women, is funded 90% by the federal government and has saved Wisconsin taxpayers nearly $90. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
