State lawmakers have removed Planned Parenthood, an organization that provides health care to men and women of low-income families, from being a priority in receiving state and federal family planning money.
The bill, which was passed Dec. 13 by the state House, says that if another health care organization applies for the money normally allocated to Planned Parenthood, the organization will not receive funding for its services.
With 31 clinics throughout Michigan, Planned Parenthood provides birth control, general health examinations, routine screening for cancers, sexually transmitted disease screening and pregnancy testing.
Judy Karandjeff, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Michigan, said this bill could eliminate one or all the clinics throughout the state depending on who applies for funds.
The Planned Parenthood office in Frandor Shopping Center, could be in jeopardy, Karandjeff said.
“Right now, we don’t know what the impact will be,” she said. “We’re concerned for our Frandor office because if an organization from Marquette applies for funding, we don’t know where women of East Lansing will go.”
Lori Lamerand, vice president for the Planned Parenthood Mid-Michigan Alliance, said the Lansing office sees 6,000 patients each year. The organization’s Ann Arbor office sees more than 9,000 patients a year.
About 93 percent of these patients are female and 60 percent of them don’t have insurance or another health care provider.
“If our clinics are eliminated, these patients will probably end up at the county health department,” Lamerand said. “But the health department wouldn’t possibly be able to absorb our numbers. The result is that these women will largely go without care.”
Lamerand said the state recognizes the cost for each patient is $128, but only gives Planned Parenthood $78 per patient. Last year, Planned Parenthood’s Ann Arbor office received $20,000 in funding.
Kristen Hemker, spokeswoman for Right To Life of Michigan, an organization that represents pro-life groups, said the bill is a follow-up to the 1988 referendum, which taxpayers voted to stop tax-funded abortion.
“Tax-subsidized abortion is something that a lot of other nonfunded abortion agencies agree with us on,” Hemker said. “Even if they support abortion, a lot of people are uncomfortable with their tax dollars funding it.”
