MA Lawmakers blast anti-contraception

BOSTON, Mass. (WWLP) - Representative Ellen Story (D-Amherst) spoke in support of family planning services Wednesday as women’s health advocates prepared to lobby lawmakers for funding at the Massachusetts State House.   

Family planning has been a charged topic as Congress prepares to vote on a bill Thursday that allows employers to limit health coverage, like contraception, based on religious or moral objections.  The bill has the support of 37 senators, nearly all Republicans, including Senator Scott Brown (R-Massachusetts).

Representative Story was unimpressed by the politicization of contraception in the federal political arena. “It’s just an outrageously cheap tactic,” said Story.  “It’s utterly ridiculous in 2012 for us to still be talking about whether people can have contraception.”

Representative Gloria Fox praised family planning services in Massachusetts for giving low-income and underinsured residents access to cancer and HIV tests as well as hundreds of thousands of condoms and birth control pills.

“I made myself clear that as it relates to women’s health we have to have that as an alternative, we have to have that, some form of family planning has to be done,” said Rep. Gloria Fox (D-Roxbury).

Though Governor Deval Patrick has proposed a 4 percent decrease in funding in his FY13 state budget proposal, family planning advocates are fighting back, asking lawmakers for a $1.5 million increase to bring funding to $6 million.  They hope that money will avert the need to scale back on services as they face federal cuts, rising costs and a growing clientele.

Tapestry Health CEO Leslie Tarr Laurie, who is based in Western Massachusetts, said decreased funding could mean some family planning sites across the state will have to shut down. “In some of our smaller locations in North Adams or Amherst, what we may find is that we do not have adequate dollars to continue to keep those sites running,” said Laurie.

Representative Story noted that women’s health issues have long been a sensitive topic on Beacon Hill.  Massachusetts was the last state to legalize contraception for married people in 1966 and didn’t legalize birth control education until 1972.