Madison, Wis., May 23, 2009 / 11:07 am
The Wisconsin Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee is scheduled to vote today on Gov. Jim Doyle’s proposal to expand a confidential “family planning” program to boys aged 15 to 17. Critics charged that the proposal further encourages teens to go behind their parents’ backs and neglects their moral development.
At present, Wisconsin’s Medicaid Family Planning Waiver Program provides taxpayer-funded birth control without charge to teen girls in the same age range without their parents’ knowledge or consent.
Federal and state law prohibits parents from being notified that their minor daughters are receiving free contraceptives under the program, a press release from Pro-Life Wisconsin reports.
“Providing free, taxpayer-funded birth control to 15-year-old boys and girls behind parents’ backs is horrible public policy, and we urge the finance committee to block expansion of this offensive program,” commented Matt Sande, Pro-Life Wisconsin’s director of legislation. “Parents are naturally concerned about the sexual health of their teen children, not only to protect them physically but to guide them morally.”
Sande argued the state should reinforce the parent-child relationship.