Suzio Amendment Would Cut State Funding For Planned Parenthood - Update
Democratic legislators held a press conference late Monday afternoon to oppose Meriden state senator's amendment.
Photos
Update 3:44 a.m.
Governor Dannel Malloy's budget bill was adopted by the Connecticut Senate at around 3:12 a.m. Tuesday by a vote of 19-to-17. The bill is scheduled to move to the state's House of Representatives Tuesday at noon.
The senate's session website indicates that Amendment LCO 5775 was not discussed on the floor Monday night or Tuesday morning. Two of Sen. Suzio's proposed amendments LCO 5826 and LCO 5780 were addressed and both were voted down on party lines, 22 - 14.
Original Story
As state senators debate Governor Dannel Malloy’s $40.1 billion budget through Monday night and into early Tuesday morning, they may spend some time discussing a controversial amendment posed by newly elected state Sen. Len Suzio (R-Meriden) that was the focus of a Democratic press conference Monday.
Amendment LCO 5775, which Suzio and state Sen. Michael McLachlen (R-Danbury) hope to propose during the senate budget proceedings, would cut $2 million from state funding for Planned Parenthood over the next two years.
“Planned Parenthood is one of the few organizations that was exempt from any funding cuts (in Malloy's budget),” Suzio said by phone late Monday night, during the senate’s session. The Meriden businessman, who won his seat in a special election this February, is well-known to have pro-life views, but did not explicitly mention abortion as a reason for his planned amendment Monday night. He said, "Why hasn’t Planned Parenthood been cut like any other health fund?"
The proposed $1 million per year cut would effectively eliminate all state funding for the organization.
Planned Parenthood has 18 health centers in Connecticut and provides services to nearly 65,000 people in the state. The national organization is known widely for providing abortions, but more than 90 percent of its services are routine gynecological exams, cancer screenings, immunizations, contraceptive services, and testing for sexually transmitted diseases.
“The amendment is so ill-conceived that it should not be taken seriously,” said Democratic Majority Leader J. Brendan Sharkey at a press conference held by Democratic legislators Monday afternoon, according to a statement released by the House Democratic Caucus. “This is not the place or the time for Republicans to be interlacing their brand of extreme social policy and agenda into the very serious budget process that is facing the state.”
The Suzio-McLachlen amendment is one of more than 80 that Suzio and the 14-member Republican caucus intend to introduce this evening to the full senate. Suzio said he is most enthusiastic about a different amendment, LCO 5819, that he intends to propose that he said would sharply reduce the tax increases expected to hit Connecticut residents in the Malloy budget by instead restructuring the state’s debt.
"The Democrats have put us between two evils – raising taxes or throwing grandma out in the street. I have a third option, it can save Connecticut taxpayers a billion dollars a year,” Suzio said. “What (Democrats) should be denouncing is their tax increase – not their tempest in a teapot.”
Reached for comment Monday afternoon, Conn. House Speaker Christopher Donovan, a Democrat from Meriden, said Suzio's plan was not in the best interests of their shared hometown. There is a Planned Parenthood center in the city.
“Planned Parenthood provides services for women in so many ways – he’d be hurting our city by doing this,” Donovan said.
The house is expected to debate the budget on Tuesday, following state senate approval. Media outlets are reporting that with 22 members, the majority Democrats in the senate should have all the votes they need to pass the budget.
Other amendments Suzio hopes to have an opportunity to propose Monday night/Tuesday morning include Meriden-focused LCO 5780, which asks that state grants that provide per-student funding for Edison Magnet School in Meriden to the city's school district permanently stay at $3,833 per in-district student. The grants decreased in this year's budget from their 2010 funding level of $4,250, and Suzio said he'd like to ensure that they don't decrease any further.
Suzio is also slated to propose that the state and federal gas taxes be posted at the pump at Connecticut gas stations.
"So people can see what they're paying, rather than that being a hidden tax," Suzio, who campaigned on a vigorous anti-tax platform, said.
John DiBiase
6:21 am on Tuesday, May 3, 2011
We support Sen. Suzio on this initiative. John DiBiase - Meriden Tea Party
Lydia
10:24 am on Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Good God...we have a Meriden Tea Party? God help us.
Patty
3:00 pm on Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Defund Planned Parenthood. They are part of the problem, not the solution. Do they ever tell people to wash their hands after touching private parts? That is basic health ... wash your hands. Does anyone tell people to do that in regards to sex? HPV, Gonorrhea & Chlamydia have all been found in the eye due to hand-to-eye contact.
The CDC's "Ready-to-Use STD Curriculum for Clinical Educators Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Module July 2004 Slide 23 notes, " Genital warts found from the public hair to the upper thighs and oral & ocular locations."
Gonorrhea is becoming highly drug resistant. According to the American Social Health Association
gonorrhea can be passed when the mucous membrane, the soft skin covering all the openings of the body, comes into contact with the mucous membrane secretions or semen of an infected person. ...
~ Even a woman who has not had anal sex can get gonorrhea in the anus or rectum if bacteria are spread from the vaginal area, such as when wiping with toilet paper.
Get the idea? Wash your hands. Keep away from people who do not have your best health interest at heart. That includes Planned Parenthood!
Shawn M Lang
4:26 pm on Tuesday, May 3, 2011
"Patty" - all the things you cited are exactly the reason we need Planned Parenthood. They are often THE ONLY service providers who offer accurate, evidenced based sexual and reproductive health information to men and women of all ages, in a supportive, informed and cost-effective manner. Planned Parenthood IS a public health program. I personally know a number of women who, when they were in HS or College visited PP for information and sexual health exams, and are extremely grateful for having had that option. We need accurate information and not the kind of hysteria you're espousing.
Patty
4:52 pm on Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Not hysteria. Gave places to find facts of transmission. There is hand-to- eye contact. If hands were at least washed there would be less illness. Even less illness if one was taught how to pick a better partner. What is good for a 'health care worker' is even better for everyone else. Defund Planned Parenthood!
http://www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/manual-1998/CHAPT2.pdf
The occupational acquisition of syphilis by health care workers has occurred when gloves were not worn in handling infectious lesions or when ungloved hands came in contact with oral or genital secretions containing T. pallidum. Primary chancres, secondary syphilis mucous patches, and condyloma lata are infectious."
"Wash hands and other skin surfaces immediately if contaminated with blood or other body fluids. Always wash hands immediately after removing gloves and before leaving the laboratory, eating, drinking, smoking, or using the bathroom. Do not touch items such as a telephones, doorknobs, laboratory equipment, or computer keyboards with contaminated hands.
Gloves (latex)*
... Contaminated gloves can be a source of infection. While wearing gloves, avoid hand contact with eyes, ears, nose and mouth. REMOVE GLOVES and wash hands
Lydia
5:38 pm on Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Patty: And for THAT reason alone you want to defund Planned Parenthood? How ignorant.
Sarah
9:39 pm on Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Patty, your post is very strange, and it says nothing to argue your apparent point about funding for Planned Parenthood. In fact, I think I might ask someone at Planned Parenthood for clarification about the topics you allude to. PP has always provided me with objective, clear, and useful information about sexual and reproductive health. I value the role that PP plays in community health care. I do not support any legislation that targets this important organization. I also value intelligent and well supported arguments in any debate or discussion. Your argument is neither.
Andrea
6:24 pm on Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Wow. Yeah. What we need to fund is more organizations telling us to wash our hands. Elementary school didn't cover that one well enough. We definitely don't need a place that wants to help if, say, we start bleeding abnormally, have no idea what it is, and have no health insurance and not enough money to go see a typical, for-profit gynecologist-- say for a cancer screening or a pelvic exam. Noooo. That kind of organization is obviously not doing anything in the interest of public health. Just ask the CDC. Cancer? Soap and water! Irregular menstruation and abnormal pain? No fear! It just takes some good, vigorous scrubbing! Thyroid screening? Why put your blood and urine through all those pesky tests when we've got Softsoap right here? You need counseling for sexual abuse/assault? Just wash your hands, young lady!
Obviously someone has no idea what Planned Parenthood actually does.
All compulsive fixations on The Threat of Gonorrhea aside, this legislation simply makes me angry. It presupposes that no one who benefits from Planned Parenthood's services deserves to have health services at all. If you've never been scared about something happening with your body, and in a situation where you couldn't access affordable health care anywhere but at Planned Parenthood, you just have no idea how meaningful their presence in the community and their continued funding is. Lucky you.