President Bush vetoed yesterday a $150.7 billion domestic spending bill that contained largest increase in Title X family planning funding in 35 years. The bill, the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill, passed in Congress with bipartisan support but was three votes shy of the two-thirds majority required to override the veto in the House.
The bill includes $310.9 million in funding for Title X family planning services. The increase “is estimated to provide services for an additional 139,000 women and would help to prevent 24,000 unintended pregnancies and 10,000 abortions,” according to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA).
“This veto is another example of President Bush’s practice of putting politics ahead of women and families,” said PPFA president Cecile Richards in a press release. “More than 17 million women in the United States need subsidized birth control, and this historic increase in family planning would help thousands of women prevent unintended pregnancy and plan healthy families.”
