Economic Opportunity, Health and Education, Policy Updates
BREAKING NEWS: Governor Vetoes Family Planning Funding
by WREN Statement on Jul 6, 2018
Today the governor issued a veto removing funding for family planning from the state budget. Click here to read the full list of vetoes.
Statement from Ann Warner, CEO, WREN
“In a state where many families are living in poverty, are still uninsured and are struggling to access healthcare, we should be supporting women and families with access to family planning, not completely removing funding. Absolutely no one “wins” when women lose access to critical health services – not women, not their families, and not our state.
Governor McMaster’s veto of family planning funds harms the health and economic well-being of women and families in our state.
While the veto is cloaked in a moral judgment about abortion, the governor is well aware that these state dollars do not go toward abortion services. What the veto does is hurt the ability of low-income women and families to be able to get the support they need to decide if, when, and how they create families.
When women lose access to family planning services, their health will suffer. The budget for family planning goes toward supporting a wide range of services like annual exams, birth control, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, and lifesaving cancer screenings that help low-income people to manage their health, and plan their families. If this veto stands, these basic health services could be defunded.
When women lose access to family planning, their access to education and work opportunities also suffer. All women in our state deserve to have access to the healthcare provider that they choose and the health services they need.
The governor is clearly putting a political agenda ahead of the health and dignity of families in our state. The women and men of South Carolina will not let these kinds of attacks continue, and they will speak up. We need to look beyond political debates and remember that real people in our communities are going to get hurt if this veto stands.”
Take action: Click here to send an email to your legislators asking they override the governor’s veto.