Advertisement

North Carolina Planned Parenthood Dodges GOP Attempts At Defunding After Receiving Federal Grant

Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina (PPCNC) successfully thwarted Republicans’ attempt to strip funding from the organization. Despite state legislators’ aim to effectively shut down its clinic in Durham, PPCNC received federal grant money that will not only allow the clinic to remain open, but will also help it expand.

This news comes after North Carolina legislators passed a budget bill earlier this month that “prohibits state contracts for family planning or pregnancy prevention services.” As the Huffington Post notes, the bill “effectively, but not explicitly,” singles out PPCNC, since Planned Parenthood is the only organization to fit the bill’s description.The bill cut $125,000 in funding for Planned Parenthood, enough that Durham clinic would have to close.

The PPCNC then filed to receive federal grant money through Title X, the nation’s family planning program, and was given $426,000. Now, with more than three times the amount of funding that would have been revoked by Republicans, the clinic can actually expand:

The Durham clinic expects to see a fourfold increase in patients, to about 2,000 a year, said Emily Adams, vice president of operations. Adams said the funding dispute was a close call […]

Advertisement

The extra money will allow the clinic to expand its programs to help men and to educate teenagers to delay having sex or teach safeguards to those already having sex.

The Durham clinic doesn’t even provide abortions, it offers “subsidized preventive health care such as annual exams, birth control, cancer screening and STD detection and prevention to low-income women, men and teenagers who would otherwise have no care.”

Nina Liss-Schultz