Dems blasted for supporting Planned Parenthood but not health centers

The nonprofit American Principles Project (APP) on Wednesday criticized the Obama administration for agreeing to $600 million in cuts to community health centers that cater to underserved populations while fighting for Planned Parenthood.

The conservative group skewered the White House for agreeing to the cuts while protecting family planning funding for Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider. Overall, the spending bill agreed to late Friday by House Republicans and the White House cuts almost $5 billion over 2010 levels from the labor, health and human services budget.

"Coating its ideology in flowery language about women's health and alleged Republican mean-spiritedness, liberal Democrats refused to cut one dime out of Planned Parenthood's plump federal purse during the budget debate," APP President Frank Cannon said in a statement. "All the while a sharp knife was being taken to community health centers that actually perform full-scale exams for the needy.

"These health centers offer prenatal care to women and their babies — 480,000 times in 2009 alone. Planned Parenthood? Their 850 clinics average less than one prenatal visit a month; in other words, it's not their line of work."

Planned Parenthood says its health centers provide primary and preventive healthcare to 3 million Americans each year.

The $600 million cut is especially significant because Democrats had made the federally qualified health centers a cornerstone of their healthcare reform efforts, giving them billions of dollars in the 2009 recovery act and last year's healthcare reform law.

"As the president explained, some of the cuts will be painful — including the cuts in community health centers and NIH that we support and would not have made in better circumstances," Health and Human Services spokesman Chris Stenrud told The Hill. "But beginning to live within our means is the only way to protect the investments that will help America to compete for new jobs — investments in our kids' education and student loans; in clean energy and life-saving medical research."