Thursday, February 9, 2012
Phillips Gov. Haslam's War on Planned Parenthood Hits Memphis
Posted by Betsy Phillips on Thu, Feb 9, 2012 at 7:37 AM
The Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center is ... er, was ... the only place "to provide the only regularly-scheduled, after-hours HIV testing in the Mid-South." In other words, if you couldn't get time off work to go get tested, you could, regardless of your sexual orientation, go to the MGLCC after work.
But you can't anymore, because Gov. Haslam cut off funding to Planned Parenthood and didn't bother to find other ways to fund this crucial health-care service:
Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center (MGLCC) will be unable to offer Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) testing tonight and for the foreseeable future. For more than three years, MGLCC has collaborated with Planned Parenthood to provide the only regularly-scheduled, after-hours HIV testing in the Mid-South. This afternoon, Planned Parenthood representatives informed MGLCC that they do not have the funds necessary to provide the HIV testing for the foreseeable future because the State of Tennessee has denied Planned Parenthood access to grants for HIV prevention.
Wow, that's really pro-life, there, Governor!
It's bad enough when Stacey Campfield runs to national media outlets to make sure everyone knows how little he thinks of people who are or could potentially become HIV-positive. But, really, it's worse to cut funding for HIV testing in order to score points against Planned Parenthood.
And, honestly, I wonder if that's the point — let Campfield go out and distract people by jumping around in an ape suit, while Haslam quietly does real harm to people who need HIV testing. Let Haslam look like the reasonable Republican — you know, not like Stacey Campfield — while he deals a worse injury to gay people than Campfield ever could.
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Comments (10)
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I guess PP will have to use the funds currently sent to lobbying projects for this service if indeed they think it is important.
Anyone ever wonder how many vital services could be performed with the funds going to salaries for PP leadership? We should demand more from our charities than just PR hack generated press releases and lobbying strategies. PP could be an instrument of help for those in need instead of just another political group.
Healthcare for those in need should come before any other service they provide. That is unless most of the money they receive is for that other service then all bets are off. Which leads to this question: If a service being paid for by government grant is not a high enough priority for the organization receiving that money, why bother even giving them that grant? The state should skip the middleman and just give it to this group directly and avoid the six-figure salaries in the middle.
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dislikeIf he wants to cut funding for planned parenthood, I hope he has another reserve of money for medicare and and orphanage, because surely his mistakes will be felt elsewhere and at the cost of human lives
Moost, I think the dilemma Haslam faces--and why he didn't just arrange for the money to go directly to MGLCC--is that there are only so many places people can go to get healthcare. If MGLCC wants a place staffed by medical professionals where blood can be drawn and lab work either done or contracted for and a place where gays and lesbians don't have to fear discrimination, Planned Parenthood is really the obvious choice.
So, either the money goes directly to Planned Parenthood who works with MGLCC or it goes directly to MGLCC who funnels it to Planned Parenthood, because there just aren't other good options for folks who can do the work and treat MGLCC's base with respect (sadly).
So, that's why the grant goes to no one instead of just going to someone different. Haslam seems willing to sacrifice the needs of MGLCC's community in order to keep money from flowing to Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood is not a government agency. It is a 501(c) non profit corporation. It is allowed by the federal government to raise funds through donations and grants and pays no taxes on monies raised. The fact that state and federal government grants have been issued to the corporation doesn't mean that those grants are guaranteed. What people forget is the grants issued by the government are in fact taxpayer dollars and some of those dollars are funneled to other branches of PPH to be used to lobby the government for more grants. Seems to me if the cry of the 99%ers is to stop the abuse of power through paid lobbyist working for large corporations, it would go hand in glove that large corporations like PPH should not use taxpayer provided funds to lobby the government for more taxpayer money. Good evidence that Gov. Haslam is trying to do what the 99%ers want.
Medicare? Orphanage? Screw that. Don't you know these lives only have value before they're born?
Why doesn't the Homosexual Community Center just raise money from the homosexual and Jewish communities to be able to provide these services instead of depending on the money being laundered through Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood could then use all of their money on breast exam screening and other non-abortion medical care (as abortion is only just a very small part of what Planned Parenthood is about).
"Why doesn't the Homosexual Community Center just raise money from the homosexual and Jewish communities"
WTF?
It's the fault of the filthy Jews! First they killed our Lord, and now this shit!
"Why doesn't the Homosexual Community Center just raise money from the homosexual and Jewish communities to be able to provide these services"
And instead of a theme-colored ribbon for their fundraiser, supporters could wear pink triangles and yellow stars.
