Save Family Planning

Gov. George Deukmejian’s proposal to eliminate California’s family-planning programs must be rejected. The most dignified and compassionate argument would be on the grounds that hundreds of thousands of women, especially teen-agers whose lives could be blighted by unplanned pregnancy, depend on these programs. But arguments against ruined lives or for ways to help families plan pregnancy to enhance the chances that they can handle the responsibilities of parenthood seem not to be part of the dollars and cents of the budget process.

But the governor’s proposal does not even add up in pure fiscal terms. It is fiscally irresponsible to cut deeply into a $36.2-million program that actually helps save the state many times as much in medical costs and other social services. The Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California has found that every $1 spent on family-planning services saves $6 in later costs.

One major group served by Planned Parenthood and other family-planning services is poor teen-age girls, the same teen-agers who often fail to seek adequate prenatal care when they do get pregnant. A lack of prenatal care in turn can lead to complications that harm the physical or mental development of their children.

The California Legislature established the state’s office of family planning. The governor apparently intends to disestablish it by starving it for funds. The public must let the governor know that this simply won’t do, that voters would rather have a smaller state reserve fund or change the Gann limits that keep the state from spending all its revenues in the first place than turn their backs on family planning.