Politics

White House protects abortion provider, allows cuts to community health centers

Font Size:

The American Principles Project (APP) Wednesday criticized the Obama administration for allowing the elimination of $600 million for Community Health Centers while protecting funding for Planned Parenthood as part of last week’s budget deal agreed to by Congress and the White House.

Touting Planned Parenthood as a key women’s health-care provider, Democrats held firm to their promise not to allow cuts to the nation’s largest abortion provider. Community Health Centers, which do not perform abortions, provide health services to the needy — including mammograms and pre- and post-natal care.

According to the American Principles Project last year Community Health Centers performed 320,000 mammograms while Planned Parenthood did none.

“Coating its ideology in flowery language about women’s health and alleged Republican mean-spiritedness, liberal Democrats refused to cut one dime out of Planned Parenthood’s plump federal purse during the budget debate,” said the president of APP, Frank Cannon. “All the while a sharp knife was being taken to community health centers that actually perform full-scale exams for the needy. These health centers offer prenatal care to women and their babies – 480,000 times in 2009 alone. Planned Parenthood? Their 850 clinics average less than one prenatal visit a month, in other words, it’s not their line of work.”

Following passage of the stimulus in 2009, at Unity’s Upper Cardozo Health Center in Washington, D.C., First Lady Michelle Obama praised the allocation of $851 million in grants to Community Health Centers across the country and explained their indispensability to the less fortunate.

“Community Health Centers provide care to the Americans who need it most and their work has never been more important,” said Obama. “These grants will help Unity’s Upper Cardozo and thousands of centers across the country expand and serve more Americans who simply can’t afford insurance coverage anymore.“

According to the White House these health centers serve more than 17 million patients a year.

Follow Caroline on Twitter