Orange County Cuts Off Planned Parenthood Funding

Orange County legislators have defunded a Planned Parenthood grant to do sexual health education and outreach.

Lawmakers and anti-choice advocates threaten to cut off funding from Planned Parenthood all the time.  If you’re disgraced Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, for example, you introduce a one-page amendment to the omnibus appropriations bill to deny Title X family planning funding to the agency.  If you’re Tony Perkins, you call funding for basic women’s health care services an "abortion industry bailout" and call for a ban on funds to Planned Parenthood. Your talking points don’t mention that you don’t want to fund preventive care services at a provider that offers only legal medical services, and that you’d like to defund that provider based on personal whims.  Usually, these threats don’t come into fruition.

Now, Orange County legislators have followed through. They’ve cut a nearly $300,000 grant to Planned Parenthood to do health education and outreach.  "I personally have a problem with government funding of an organization
that provides abortion services," said Supervisor John Moorlach, who
placed the item on the agenda, said to the LA Times

The county money going to Planned Parenthood didn’t fund abortions.  And just a few days ago, the fact that it did wasn’t the reason for Supervisor Moorlach’s objection.  "We have a problem with financing
Planned Parenthood, period," Mario Mainero, Moorlach’s chief of staff, told the Orange County Register.
"We just don’t think government money should be used to talk to teens
and preteens about birth control and abortion."

So, it was the very services the grant funded that Moorlach has a problem with: he doesn’t want teens to hear about contraception. 

"The $291,788 contract in question does not pay for abortion services.
It funds education outreach efforts, such as comprehensive reproductive
education for teens and preteens, including discussion about birth
control, abstinence and sexually transmitted disease," the OC Register explains.