Karen Santorum insisted her husband will do “nothing” on the issue of contraception.
Not true.
Rick Santorum, like each and every GOP candidate, has vowed to end funding for Title X.
Title X provides access to birth control for 5 million people. Now. Today. Title X has been in place since 1970. Each and every GOP candidate has (now) promised to gut the program. Republicans have supported Title X in the past. Now they don’t. That’s a substantive, radical change in position, and one they should have to explain. I know, I know, it’s LOW INCOME people, so they’re invisible and it doesn’t really matter, but 5 million people is a lot of people. President Obama and Democrats in Congress support Title X. Romney and Santorum and Republicans in Congress don’t. That’s a choice Republicans made, and it’s not a rhetorical or political difference. It’s 5 million people, access to birth control. They have it now, and they will lose it if any Republican wins.
Title X is the only Federal grant program dedicated solely to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services. The Title X program is designed to provide access to contraceptive services, supplies and information to all who want and need them. By law, priority is given to persons from low-income families.
Nearly 100 Title X grantees provide family planning services to more than five million women and men through a network of over 4,500 community-based clinics that include State and local health departments, tribal organizations, hospitals, university health centers, independent clinics, community health centers, faith-based organizations, and other public and private nonprofit agencies. In approximately 75% of U.S. counties, there is at least one clinic that receives Title X funds and provides services as required under the Title X statute.
Indeed, after Santorum mega-donor Foster Friess “humorously” suggested that women practice birth control by putting an aspirin between their legs, Santorum defended himself by invoking Title X.
“It’s funny that I’ve been criticized by Governor Romney and by Ron Paul for having voted for something called Title X, which is actually federal funding of contraception,” Santorum told CBS’s Charlie Rose. “My public policy beliefs are that contraception should be available. Again, I’ve supported Title X funding.”Excellent. Except, here is Santorum, five days later, at the Arizona presidential debate:
“As Congressman Paul knows, I opposed Title X funding. I’ve always opposed Title X funding, but it’s included in a large appropriation bill that includes a whole host of other things,” Santorum said.
“What I did, because Title X was always pushed through . . . I said, well, if you’re going to have Title X funding, then we’re going to create something called Title XX, which is going to provide funding for abstinence-based programs.”
Maybe Karen Santorum thinks 5 million people are “nothing”, but I don’t agree with her. Do conservatives like Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney plan to end the federal support for family planning that has been in place since 1970? Because that’s what they say they’ll do.
She must not have listened at all those debatesPost + Comments (107)