One of the most widely overlooked but overtly threatening piece of negotiation that occurred during the budget debate was the discussion of a plan to eliminate Title X funding and instead turn it into block grants that would be given to each state, so the state could chose what to do with it.

Currently, multiple states are in the process of passing unconstitutional 20 week abortion bans.  Ohio is trying to pass an 18 day abortion ban.  Alabama and Mississippi are attempting to pass personhood amendments that would ban abortion all together. 

The overall goal is to get a case to the Supreme Court that would overturn Roe V. Wade and return abortion limitations to the states themselves, once more setting up states where a woman can have an abortion and states where she cannot.  And, considering how many restrictions have been set and how much access has been limited georgraphically and financially in many areas, a number of states won’t have far to go.

If Title X federal funding was re-categorized and changed into a set amount of funds that would go to each state to pick or choose which providers received what, we would be looking at a new set of states  — the states that allow birth control, and the states that do not.  For the myriad states that have already begun passing legislation to try and defund their own local Planned Parenthoods, Texas among the biggest and most recent, it’s simple to see what the result of these block grants would be.  Rather than allowing funds to go to providers like Planned Parenthood, the state would be more likely to set up new clinics, maybe those with conservative and relligious backings.  Sex Ed classes would be abstinence based, and they would keep one anti-abortion medical practitioner on hand to provide pevlic exams and other medical screenings.

And not one of these clinics will ever offer contraceptives.

There will no longer be a place for a women to get IUD’s birth control pills, implants or shots that offer affordable alternatives or sliding scales.  “Pro-life” physicians will be on hand to tell you that the pill is an abortifacient and cannot be allowed in the center.  And because the Catholic Bishops are still refusing to allow birth control to be a preventative drug that insurance will cover, most women will find the prices skyrocketing and the cost of preventing pregnancy astronomical.

Welcome to birth control free states — brought to you by the pro-life conservative movement.