One lawmaker ruffles some feathers as he tries to terminate Wisconsin’s Family Planning Waiver Program.
As State Senator Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) tries to eliminate the health care program that gives birth-control to young teens, Planned Parenthood calls his criticisms of the program “really outrageous.” Advocate Nicole Safar says the West Bend Republican’s repeated efforts to kill the program just to get negative press for Planned Parenthood are shameful.
“We know that Senator Grothman absolutely has this vendetta, I think, against Planned Parenthood.”
Safar explains the Family Planning Waiver Program not only provides birth control services, but also cancer screenings, sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment for a huge population of low-income women aged 15-44. She says about only 11 percent are 15-17 year olds — the group Grothman is trying to protect.
“Young women are always encouraged to talk to their parents if they don’t come in with their parents. But really when it comes down to it and you’re talking about parental rights most parents will say ‘absolutely, my daughter’s health is more important to me than some sort of parental rights argument.”
Safar says they’ve been fighting for the program since it began in 2003. It has provided services to almost 60,000 women, but it has also saved the state government almost $90 million since it got under way.
After years of educating the public, Safar says Planned Parenthood enjoys even more support. “The more we talk about it and the more people become aware of how successful and how important this program is, the easier it is to kind of shut down Senator Grothman’s arguments.