Supporter's of Maine's family planning clinics are urging state lawmakers to support a bill that would boost their funding for the first time in a decade.
The bill would increase annual funding from $900,000 to roughly $6 million. It would support dozens of health sites across the state that offer services from cancer screening to birth control to behavioral health. Roughly 31,000 patients visit the clinics each year, many whom are low income.
Sarah McDarby of Woolwich, the mother of two adopted children, told lawmakers on the Health and Human Services Committee Monday that both of her children's birth mothers experienced poverty, addiction, and domestic abuse, and had limited access to health care.
"If their birth mothers had had access to proper prenatal care and addiction counseling, my children would likely have been born with far less challenges," she said. "Challenges that they're still working to overcome today."
And while the sponsors of the Democratic-backed bill say none of the money would be used for abortion care, opponents say the funding would inevitably support organizations that perform abortions. Nick Adolphsen is executive director of the Maine Christian Civic League.
"Here's a $6 million question: do we use this money to fund our future, or fund our demise?" Adolphsen asked lawmakers.
He argues that with Maine's budget shortfall, the money would be better spent elsewhere.
