Bowen Refuses to Block Family Planning Fund

Health and Human Services Secretary Otis R. Bowen declined Thursday to reinstate a subordinate’s order denying federal funds to Planned Parenthood family planning programs because the organization also operates abortion clinics.

The issue generated a firestorm of outrage from anti-abortion activists in and out of Congress last month when the subordinate, Jo Ann Gasper, was reprimanded for instructing that the Planned Parenthood money be stopped without clearing her action with department superiors.

In a carefully worded letter Thursday to regional health administrators, Bowen said he shared “Mrs. Gasper’s basic intention” to ensure compliance with the law against federal money going to advocate abortion.

However, he did not lift an order by Robert E. Windom, the No. 2 official at HHS, rescinding Gasper’s action against Planned Parenthood.

Reprimand to Stand

Although the matter of her reprimand was not raised in Bowen’s letter, department sources said the reprimand stands.

At the time Windom rescinded Gasper’s order and reprimanded her, his spokesman said the reprimand did not stem from the substance of her memo but because she acted without consulting superiors on what was bound to be a controversial matter.

The issue was particularly touchy at HHS because the House-Senate conference committee that crafted the bill appropriating money for the agency included in its report language barring HHS from making administrative changes in programs without consulting Congress.

Gasper, deputy assistant secretary for population affairs, is one of six deputies under Windom, the assistant secretary for health.

Quotes From Law

In his letter Thursday, Bowen quoted from the 1970 family planning law a portion that says no federal money is to be used “in programs where abortion is a method of family planning.”

In applying that law, he wrote: “We find that if any organization includes abortion or abortion-related activities in a family planning program, that program is not eligible for . . . funding. However, other programs of the organization . . . not involving abortion or abortion-related activities might be eligible for various forms of federal assistance.”

Planned Parenthood runs about 750 family planning clinics nationwide and receives about $30 million a year in federal funds to help operate them.