SEATTLE -- Planned Parenthood treats about 140,000 patients in Washington state. If federal funding to the program is cut, 70,000 of those patients will have nowhere to go.
(Editor's Note: Congress reached a budget deal about three hours after this story was filed, averting a government shutdown.)
The services these cuts would affect include birth control, breast and cervical cancer screenings, sexually transmitted infections and treatments and HIV testing.
"Do I have cancer? What kind of cancer is this going to be? Am I going to be able to have children if I have this cancer?"
Those were just a few questions Lena Nachand had when she got an abnormal pap result. She headed to Planned Parenthood for support.
Nachand's been going there since she was in college. If she didn't have it when she was going to college, she said she would have had no way to get an annual exam or birth control. She can't understand why funding is on the chopping block.
Joseph Backholm with The Family Policy Institute of Washington, however, is hoping the money does dry up.
"In a financial crisis that we're in, paying for contraceptives for children, well, it's not the highest priority of government," Backholm said.
Planned Parenthood argues this is about preventive care. It says six out of ten patients have no other doctors to turn to.
"We detect a lot of cancer early on," said Kristen Glundberg-Prossor with Planned Parenthood. "So, by losing this funding, a lot more women are going to die."
Glundberg-Prossor points out that no federal taxpayer dollars fund abortions. but believes that issue is why Planned Parenthood is being targeted.
"There are lots of people who have concerns with the way they conduct business. So, for some, it is personal," said Glundberg-Prossor.
Planned Parenthood says there is an assumption that it caters mostly to teens. But, it says most of the clients are ages 19 to 31.
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