They need to stop arguing over stupid ideology and do their damn jobs and make cuts that actually make sense and that don't screw over the little people. If they are prohibited from using the funds for abortions, then why should they care? Defund PP and watch health problems skyrocket for the low income populations that depend on them for a wide range of health services. I promise that the financial costs will be far higher with these people cramming into ERs. The so called "smaller government" GOP won't be happy until the government controls the personal rights of everyone that doesn't already fall in line to kiss their asses.

Cool.

So when do we discuss the vastly larger ethanol subsidies, or the other agricultural subsidies, or the masive expenditures for the debt service for the Iraq and Afghan wars and the cost of their continuing operation?

Did you know the debt service cost for the construction of the massive US Iraq Embassy is many many times more than the Planned Parenthood funding?

That's where the real money is. That's where the real debt is.

re: the dollar spent saves four local dollars numbers: where did you find them? i know im going to have to quote sources if i throw that one out into the mix.

The teabaggers/conservatives/republicans don't know what planned parenthood does, nor do they care. They only know that they were told by their leaders that it spends their tax dollars on nothing but abortions all day long. Therefore, they will be forever against it. Actual services don't matter, actual budgets don't matter, the Hyde amendment doesn't matter.

The teabaggers complain endlessly about government spending, yet they would gladly shut down the entire country to stop one, single abortion if they could. They would endorse a trillion dollar bill if the bill merely said it would go entirely to ending a single abortion.

They are radicals. They are completely unrealistic and completely unreachable.

So yes, contact your congresspeople, but don't even bother with the teabaggers. Nothing will ever change the facts they hold inside their imaginations.

@3, The numbers came from Planned Parenthood Votes--I have a call in to see if they can break down that number for me (and you). I'll update when I hear back.

Also which 16 counties? A quick search turned up Clark County as no longer offering BC services.

@7, I thought I included the counties--thanks for pointing that out. I've added them back in.

@3, still playing phone tag with the political director of PP WA votes, but in a message she says the numbers come from the Guttmacher Institute, an independent research firm that tracks reproductive health issues. I haven't yet found specific stats on the Guttmacher site, probably because I keep getting derailed reading other articles. It's pretty fascinating. Anyway, I'll still update when I hear more.

They want to cut it to prove they can.