Birth control program takes hit in budget

Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to end funding for a program that provides $3.4 million in grants for family planning was quickly denounced and praised by advocates on both sides of the issue. Lost in the heated rhetoric that often surrounds family planning, though, was that the governor's proposed budget largely left intact the state program that provides birth control and other health care services to 50,000 women with low to moderate incomes. The administration has no plans to end that program, said Dennis Smith, secretary of the Department of Health Services. (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 3/14)