The Results of the New Hampshire Republican Executive Councils cuts to planned parenthood were seen as early as June 22, 2011, when Planned Parenthood was forced to stop providing birth control pills and other contraception to the low-income women in need. Planned Parenthood will also no longer be able to distribute low-cost antibiotics, or perform necessary low-cost pelvic exams.
The council, created in colonial times and one of few that are still in existence was created to vote on the approval of state contracts exceeding $10,000. The vote was 3-2 in favor of rejecting funding for Planned Parenthood’s six clinics in the state, of which now only three provide abortions.
It is uncommon for the executive council to become involved in hot-button issues. Their current involvement, following shortly after the failed efforts of the New Hampshire Legislature, shows clear, deliberate motivation behind these cuts and similar egregious cuts we are seeing nationwide.
These cuts are expected to affect an average of 120 working-class women each day. Seventy percent of Planned Parenthood’s patients are uninsured. Planned Parenthood clinics are turning away 20 to 30 patients per day, leaving these individuals no other option for contraception or preventive care.
According to a source at Planned Parenthood, women who were obtaining a one-month supply of birth control from Planned Parenthood for $12 a month will now be paying $33 – over a 300% increase – for that same one-month supply.
Once again the Dems are silent on these attacks. Their idea of support for women’s rights is to sometimes stave off Republican attacks but to never mount any meaningful defense to save rights fought for by the mass movements of the 60s and 70s.
The council has until next month to find a substitute, per the state. Roe v. Wade guarantees the right to choice, but cuts and attacks all over the country like these mean that choice is only for the rich.
How Do We Fight Back?
Working women must join together in the struggle for reproductive rights. They must defend their right to services from the budget cuts that leave women in a position where unwanted pregnancy, abuse, infertility, neurological conditions and even death could be easily prevented with simple but tremendously necessary services.
Women are fighting back all across the country! We are resisting attacks on union rights, immigrants and students’ futures. Class unity is needed to bring together our various struggles, so that we can fight for the real needs of working people and bring about a fundamental change.
Socialist Alternative stands for a womans right to choose when and whether to have children. Birth control, STD screening, HPV testing and other services for women are part of necessary preventive care.
We say: Defend abortion rights. We support full reproductive rights, including free, accessible birth control, sex education, paid maternity and paternity leave, and high-quality, affordable child care.