Morris Plains Democratic Committee Stands with New Jersey Planned Parenthood

At their July meeting, the members of the Morris Plains Democratic Committee passed a resolution in support of Planned Parenthood and other family planning providers across New Jersey, underscoring the need to have funding for family planning services restored to the New Jersey state budget.

In 2010, Governor Chris Christie cut $7.45 million in funding for family planning services in New Jersey from the state budget. This funding accounted for less than 0.022% of the entire statewide budget – a drop in the bucket for New Jersey’s women, men, and teens. Six years later, that is nearly $45 million that has not been available to invest in keeping New Jersey families healthy. This funding went to preventive reproductive health care services, including cancer screenings, affordable birth control, and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS, at organizations including Planned Parenthood and other local community health providers.

In February 2016, Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey released a report, Women’s Health at Risk, which outlines key findings that show the great demand for basic, preventive reproductive health care in New Jersey.

· More than 37,000 bacterial sexually transmitted infections (including chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis) were diagnosed in 2014 in New Jersey, an increase of more than 27% since 2009, the year before funding for family planning services was cut from the state budget. Morris County saw an increase of 46.2%. Sexually transmitted infections, if left untreated, can lead to serious health issues, like infertility and certain types of cancer.

· More than 1.1 million women in New Jersey are in need of contraceptive services and supplies, and nearly 40 percent are in need of contraception that is publicly funded, a 5% increase since 2010. The ability to plan, prevent, and space pregnancies is directly linked to benefits to women, men, children, and society, including more educational and economic opportunities, healthier babies, more stable families, and a reduced taxpayer burden.

· More than 38,000 individuals are living with HIV/AIDS statewide, and 4 out of 5 women with HIV/AIDS in New Jersey are women of color.

· In 2012, there were more than 4,700 births to teen mothers age 10-19 in New Jersey, and more than 7,400 new breast and cervical cancer cases statewide.

Although more New Jersey residents have health insurance coverage thanks to the Affordable Care Act, nearly 295,000 women of reproductive age (15-49) were uninsured in New Jersey in 2015. As the Morris Plains Democratic Committee agreed, investing in family planning providers like Planned Parenthood will help New Jersey women get access to life saving cancer screenings, birth control, sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment, and the preventative health care they need.

Investments in reproductive health services not only provide women with more control over their health and their own family planning, but they are also a great deal for taxpayers. According to research released by the Guttmacher Institute, for every $1 invested in family planning services, $7 is saved in the long run in associated costs, such as averted unintended pregnancies and prevented sexually transmitted infections.

Supporting reproductive health care access helps women and families achieve economic stability; and is a smart long-term investment for the taxpayers -- and supporting them is smart fiscal policy for the state and for the country.