The New Hampshire Executive Council on Wednesday voted 3-2 to approve $549,000 in funding for five Planned Parenthood facilities in the state, the AP/Sacramento Bee reports (Casey, AP/Sacramento Bee, 6/29).
Background
Last year, the council voted 3-2 to deny Planned Parenthood clinics roughly one-third of their total public funding. Last year's vote followed the release of misleading videos by an antiabortion-rights group targeting Planned Parenthood's fetal tissue donation program.
Planned Parenthood has stated that the videos were heavily edited and that the filmed officials did not conduct any illegal activities. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England does not participate in a tissue donation program (Women's Health Policy Report, 8/6/15).
According to Planned Parenthood, the funding cuts led to increased waiting times for appointments and restricted access to some health care services. The organization also reported a decline in services including testing for sexually transmitted infections and Pap tests (AP/Sacramento Bee, 6/29).
Also last year, New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) said the state attorney general's office would not conduct an investigation into Planned Parenthood because it has not received evidence that the organization committed any illegal actions (Women's Health Policy Report, 8/6/15).
Latest developments
On Wednesday, the state's Executive Council voted to approve the funding after one of the council members switched his vote. According to the AP/Bee, the funding will cover family planning services provided by Planned Parenthood, but will not cover abortion care.
The member, Chris Sununu, a conservative gubernatorial candidate, voted to deny Planned Parenthood's funding last year. He voted to approve the funding this year because the allegations against the organization have been "debunked." He said, "We have to make sure we are providing the best services for the women, especially low income women, of the state and this contract provides that."
Another council member, Colin Van Ostern, a liberal gubernatorial candidate, also spoke in favor of the funding (AP/Sacramento Bee, 6/29). He noted that last year, under the funding cuts, "[t]housands fewer New Hampshire women and families received birth control, cancer screenings, and annual exams at New Hampshire Planned Parenthood health centers" (Rayno, New Hampshire Union Leader, 6/29).
Van Ostern said, "I would hope that this item is one of those things that bring us together. We're talking birth control, cancer screenings, annual exams." He added, "This should not be political. This should not be controversial" (AP/Sacramento Bee, 6/29).
Separately, Hassan praised the vote, which she said aligned with bipartisan work in the state Legislature to approve Planned Parenthood funding in the state's budget for the 2016-2017 fiscal year. She said, "It's troubling that women's access to reproductive health care is still the subject of ideological and political attacks ... and we must not let up in our fight to ensure that women and families have access to the important health services that are essential to the economic security and vitality of our families" (New Hampshire Union Leader, 6/29).
