Planned Parenthood Defunded In New Hampshire

Until July 1, a low-income New Hampshire woman paid an average of $5 to fill a birth control pill prescription at any of the state's six Planned Parenthood clinics. She might have even gotten the birth control for free, depending on her poverty level.

But since the New Hampshire Executive Council voted to cancel the state's contract with Planned Parenthood, a woman now has to pay anywhere from $40 to over $100 for birth control pills at a regular pharmacy.

The Council, a constitutionally empowered group of elected officials, rejected up to $1.8 million in state funding for the family planning-provider -- about 20 percent of its total annual funding -- and stripped its authority to dispense low-cost birth control and antibiotics to uninsured patients.

"We can't even provide patients with antibiotics for urinary tract infections or STDs anymore," said Jennifer Frizzell, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. She said Planned Parenthood has had to turn away 20 to 30 patients a day who are showing up to refill their prescriptions.

"We have to send them away with a prescription knowing that without insurance, they have to pay the full cost of that at a local pharmacy, and many patients have told us they're not gonna have the money in their budget to afford to fill those prescriptions."

New Hampshire lawmakers rejected multiple attempts to defund Planned Parenthood during the 2011 legislative session, voting repeatedly in favor of continuing to fund PPNNE using the state's federal family planning money. But the Executive Council, which oversees state contracting and generally stays out of hot-button political issues, overturned the decisions of both the state legislature and the Department of Health and Human Services with its 3-2 vote against Planned Parenthood.

How would your life be affected if you could no longer receive care at Planned Parenthood? Email [e-mail]. Please include your name and phone number if you're willing to do an interview.

"Not only was this vote unanticipated, but it's a little bit of a reach when the Council is using its role to act as a super-legislature," Frizzell told HuffPost. "We don't get a hearing to make our case or rebut their concerns--it's a closed process that has historically been much more limited in its scope than a legislative process."

The three Councilors who voted against funding for Planned Parenthood said they did so because some of its clinics provide abortions, even though those abortions are entirely privately funded. Councilor Raymond Wieczorek of Manchester added that he opposed funding for birth control and condoms altogether.

"If they want to have a good time, why not let them pay for it?" he told the Concord Monitor last week.

None of the Councilors could be reached for further comment Monday.

About 42 percent of women in the state who qualified for family planning subsidies sought care at one of the state's six Planned Parenthood clinics. Frizzell said many patients were drawn into the clinics to fill a birth control prescription, and would then agree to an annual pap smear or STD testing. Abortions accounted for only three percent of PPNNE's services.

"If you're against abortion, you oughta be leading the way on birth control," Frizzell said.

PPNNE is now considering all avenues, including legal action, to overturn the Executive Council's decision.

Comments

[Rich Dressler]

02:16 PM on 07/19/2011

ive said it before; it is not the governments responsibility to protect you from yourself.

[Seven Teenatheart]

01:19 AM on 07/18/2011

If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
John F. Kennedy

[MonkeyBacon]

02:23 PM on 07/21/2011

Its not a "free" society if someone sticks a gun in your face to force your to help someone.

[Strza]

01:23 AM on 08/03/2011

How many guns have you had put in your face?

[Doug Clement]

02:57 PM on 08/22/2011

the rich dont give if they dont have to. Therefore, they need to be forced to pay their fare share.

[WhiteshareCropper]

06:58 PM on 07/14/2011

So why were they defunded to begin with? I thought they had a choice.

[morvlorv]

03:19 PM on 07/14/2011

I may be ignorant on birth control pill knowledge, I am a man, but aren't condoms cheaper and more reliable than the pill? And the pill does nothing to stop the spread of disease.
I have never once had a condom fail on me, nor do I have any friends with that problem, but I do know dozens of people that have become pregnant while on the pill.

[as promised]

04:52 PM on 07/14/2011

Actually, not quite. You're right in that the pill provides no protection against disease. You're wrong in that condoms more reliable. I believe it's generally held that condoms are about 80% effective as contraception and the pill (when taken properly) about 99%

[Seven Teenatheart]

01:19 AM on 07/18/2011

That is exactly the statistic that they gave at my son's school in the end of 8th grade family life classes.

[StephenMcArthur]

02:16 PM on 07/14/2011

Reminds me of Robert Frost's poem entitled "New Hampshire," a long paean to the qualities and virtues of the state, but wherein Frost quotes Emerson --
"Emerson said, "The God who made New Hampshire
Taunted the lofty land with little men."
Frost's last line in that poem reads: "At present, I am living in Vermont."

I feel secure knowing Vermont would never do anything so vile to the women and children who live here.

[igotbanned6]

07:31 PM on 07/13/2011

And this is a problem why?

Why are we funding private organizations? Let them do their own fundraising, not fund them through taxpayers.

[Andra Claudia Garcia]

10:12 PM on 07/13/2011

It's USA affiliated and part of Public Health Sevices

[Andra Claudia Garcia]

10:13 PM on 07/13/2011

*services*

[Carbon Forteetoo]

04:36 PM on 07/13/2011

Vermont should just spread its awesomeness and totally invade New Hampshire.

[ssnt]

10:13 PM on 07/16/2011

Maybe they could spread all of that "awesomeness" throughout New England and we could ship all of the leeches up there.

[Bill M NY]

03:34 PM on 07/13/2011

wow, so its cheaper for their medicaid program to treat cancer and increased / advanced STD infections than to fund preventative services?

There is a special place for these people to burn.

[ssnt]

10:13 PM on 07/16/2011

Don't worry. There are other clinics.

[KaliKross]

03:32 PM on 07/13/2011

The title is incomplete; it should continue: "...Welfare Rolls and Medicaid Tab Set to Skyrocket"

[igotbanned6]

07:33 PM on 07/13/2011

Sounds like a personal problem to me. Why should we fund you spreading your legs?

There is no evidence whatsoever that welfare and medicaid costs would skyrocket. Stop acting like PP is the only game in town. You are fearmongering.

[leskataus]

12:32 AM on 07/14/2011

When you make the comment about spreading your legs, you reveal your true reasons for wanting to defund this organization. You don't want women to have sex and enjoy it. You also don't want them to use birth control when they have sex. It's very misogynisitc on your part.

[sssstewart4]

08:00 PM on 07/14/2011

not fearmongering-don't you know libs can tell the future-they can tell you that without the stimulus unemployment would go to 20%,without raising the debt ceiling there will be no social security checks,if we hadn't bailed out chrysler the auto industry would implode and any cut in entitlements will be the end of our country-blah,blah,blah

[garymc8]

02:10 PM on 07/13/2011

They will be begging for federal aid for unwed mothers in9 months. Alaska will lead the pack with a pregnant, out of wedlpck palin being the spokesho

[ssnt]

10:15 PM on 07/16/2011

But they won't get it because the money is gone.

[Lisa Parker Stowell]

02:46 PM on 07/17/2011

I thought the great state of Texas led the way with unplanned pregnancies.... and drop outs....

[ssnt]

06:19 PM on 07/17/2011

Illegals.

[VoReason28]

12:04 PM on 07/13/2011

The Executive Council canceled a state contract with Planned Parenthood. They didn't "defund" them, any more than canceling a contract with a construction company is "defunding" the construction company.
The scandal here is that the Executive Council, by their own words, did this for ideological reasons. In furtherance of their stated ideology, they went against the voted decisions of the State Legislature. They are not merely choosing among competing bids for a contract, which is their mandate. They have grossly overstepped their authority.
If they had awarded the contract to a different agency which would provide the same services (minus abortion, which was never in the contract anyway), that might possibly have been in their jurisdiction, but as is, they simply cancelled the contract. Unless and until another agency steps forward to provide affordable reproductive health care, this small council has raised living expenses for thousands of state residents by about $1200.

[Suresp77]

12:28 PM on 07/13/2011

Also, they banned PP from dispensing BC and antibiotics when a large proportion of the public depends on them for this and they provide these cheaper than anybody else- that's the rub, don't you agree?

[VoReason28]

01:22 PM on 07/13/2011

Yes -- so instead of comparing competing contract bids and choosing the best and/or lowest cost one, they cancelled a contract altogether, one which had the approval of the State Legislature and which provided a needed service. No alternative has been provided. This is an egregious overstepping of the Council's authority.
If there were a comparable alternative, that would be a different matter. The function of the Council is to choose between bids. In that case, I still think that selecting contractors according to the Councilors' personal ideology is a breach of their duty as public officials, but that would be a much grayer area.

[Nosybear]

11:17 AM on 07/13/2011

Is New Hampshire going to pay for all the unwanted pregnancies? I thought not. But it certainly will pay for the prisons to hold the increased number of criminals this causes. There's historical data for this, folks. Look to Eastern Europe in the 1960's. Eliminating contraception leads to more unwanted children. These unwanted children, the number one indicator of future problems, will require additional education, some of it high-risk. They will require more prisons, likely for-profit. They will require more law enforcement, more social services, much more care than the wanted children of those more readily able to pay for their contraception. It's sad that we are so short-sighted. Perhaps we deserve the decline we're in.

[manfrommars]

03:10 PM on 07/13/2011

why are you trying to apply logic here?. This is the frightened action of alzhymeric mean spirited God-fearing folks

[igotbanned6]

07:35 PM on 07/13/2011

Here is a simple solution....keep your legs closed.

Why is the Liberal's only solution to unwanted births is to give out birth control pills? Whatever happened to a few bucks for condoms?

[Liokae]

09:25 PM on 07/13/2011

That's a good question. Why don't we ask the people responsible for vastly higher unwanted pregnancy rates and social services in conservative states?

[leskataus]

12:36 AM on 07/14/2011

That's because not everybody likes condoms and some people are allergic to the materials used to make them. Besides, you really should use a backup method of birth control if you want to use this relatively ineffective method in case the condom breaks, leaks, or slips off. By the way, keeping your legs closed doesn't prevent sex. There are other sexual positions besides the missionary position.

[Botany5000]

11:13 AM on 07/13/2011

PP big news here,
not even on the front page of New Hampshire's biggest newspaper.

[Cynthia Dudley]

03:49 PM on 07/13/2011

I'm guessing they have a largely male editorial staff and most are over fifty.

[Botany5000]

06:29 PM on 07/13/2011

As a matter of fact,,,not!

[Lisa Parker Stowell]

02:51 PM on 07/17/2011

No they are ridiculously right wing. And I do mean RIDICULOUSLY. You should see some of the Useless Leader editorials - straight out of the Middle Ages. I don't understand what happened to the old common sense yankees that used to live here. Guess we're just all overtaken by all the out of staters moving in or something. lol.

These people have no concept of cause and effect. They want what they want. And what they want is to force others to live under THEIR rules and THEIR beliefs. Straightforward and simple. It's very disgusting and disheartening.

[igotbanned6]

07:36 PM on 07/13/2011

Its typical sensationalism.

[Botany5000]

08:17 PM on 07/13/2011

Yeah,,,like screaming that the Palin's mix up babies.

[FarLeftieLouie]

10:34 AM on 07/13/2011

Oh yeah, what was I thinking? Duh, if married couples do not want children, well, then, all they have to do is have unprotected sex. Because, anyway, they can just get an abortion! Oh, how convenient it is to perform an unnatural medical procedure after every time (or more accurately, only those times when pregnancy occurs) a couple undergoes a natural act (the conjugal one that is!). Oh boy, someone should tell these poor couples, or ones who cannot afford a pregnancy, to have the wives mark their calendars. I mean, after all, our bodies do have a way of telling us little trivial things like whether they are ready or not, every month of the year, for conception.

[Nosybear]

11:20 AM on 07/13/2011

Do some research: One of the number one functions of Planned Parenthood is exactly what it says, planning parenthood. It provides contraception, something much more effective than the rhythm method (highly discredited and inaccurate, by the way) you propose. The number one function of Planned Parenthood is AVOIDING abortions. Defunding it will lead to an increase in the number of abortions performed and the number of women dying of botched back-alley abortions. You have struck a mighty blow for the coathanger in defunding Planned Parenthood.

[FarLeftieLouie]

03:25 PM on 07/13/2011

Duh PP doesnt avoid abortions it suggests them! Of course the so called "rhythm method" works because it is your body and nature, you simply just write it off because you place your trust in science/medicine over your own body. Again, you fail to realize my point here:

Defunding PP is not the cause of a rise in abortions. The cause of a rise in abortion is people having unprotected sex when they do not want to reap the consequences, nice try trying to escape responsibility here and tacking it on the government. Whats next? The feds will become the sex police?

[Tykete]

01:10 PM on 07/14/2011

I did do some resarech, Planned Parenthood performed 332,278 abortions in 2009, a 2.5% increase since 2008. The increase represents at least another $4 million in income for Planned Parenthood.
Meanwhile, adoption referrals are down 59%, with only 977 referrals in 2009. Planned Parenthood now does 333 abortions for every single adoption referral.
They are in the abortion business, that is where they make their money. They should not be federally funded, they are perfectly capable of raising their own funds. Millions of people would donate to PP including myself as opposed to having no say in where tax dollars are spent.

[Laura Eichler]

01:46 PM on 07/13/2011

@Nosybear, Pretty sure Louie here was being sarcastic.

[FarLeftieLouie]

03:30 PM on 07/13/2011

Laura Eichler? From Cali??? Edwards AFB??

[Cynthia Dudley]

03:50 PM on 07/13/2011

Louie's history of comments indicate that the closest that he has come to having to worry about an unintended pregnancy was when his left hand got swollen.

[Suresp77]

10:19 AM on 07/13/2011

"If they want to have a good time, why not let them pay for it?" does this apply to his kids, his wife? And how did these non elected people get to make this decision? STOP OUTSOURCING NOW; this is decision outsourcing at its best. The state lawmakers should be ashamed of themselves, they were elected to safeguard the health and well being of all their citizens.
This is affecting 42% of the women in NH that qualify for family planning help- these are the poorest women who will now get diseases and be forced to have children they cannot afford. We will all have to bear the cost of these unwanted, unplanned children forced upon these mothers- where is the outrage? I live in MA, why is this not on the news???

[thinkabtit39]

10:54 PM on 07/13/2011

PP is not the only place where women can receive care. That is a FACT. There are other low cost clinics that are available.

[leskataus]

12:42 AM on 07/14/2011

Like where? In many small towns there aren't any clinics available. In my area, the alternative is going to a pregnancy crisis center, which isn't going to give out contraceptives. All they do is try to talk women out of having an abortion and then pressure them to give their babies up for adoption. This is what I've been told by young women who went to these centers for help.

[ssnt]

10:27 PM on 07/16/2011

You libs can make a charity and pay for them.

[PhoenixLady]

08:29 PM on 07/17/2011

Or you conservatives can mind your own business and let these women buy and pay for their birth control where they choose to do so. Just a thought. Gee I thought "Obamacare" was supposed to take away all our health care choices...what a joke.

[Suresp77]

09:39 AM on 07/18/2011

Alright, I have had just about enough of your abusive, entitled, mentally deficient nonsense- just because you or I have enough earnings to have healthcare, a credit card and internet access does not make that a reality for everyone. There are families out there living out of cars, who cannot pay for heat if they are even lucky enough to even still have a home.

And before calling me a leech, know that I earn enough to have my taxes hiked- these tax $ probably pay for you to get the mental help you sorely need, and the education you do not value. I and many others are not RICH so we do not have lobbyists- our concern is to make sure our contributions are not wasted, and are given to the people that need it most, to build educated citizens for a strong nation- not rabid fools that you seem a prime ambassador for.

One of the the entire idea of taxes, all over the world, is for one way to guarantee basic services for all- because depending on charity does not ensure a steady basis of $ without preconditions (religion) to provide for all your citizens, especially your weakest- children.