XOXO to Title X
February 18, 2011 5:45 PM Subscribe
Enjoying your Friday night? Be careful out there. In between
other things, including voting for
huge cuts to the EPA's budget and regulating power, the U.S. House of Representatives just voted to eliminate
Title X, originally signed into law 40 years ago by
Republican President Richard Nixon, which provides funding for
Planned Parenthood.
If Title X is cut, a number of services
for low-income women would likely be reduced or eliminated across the U.S.—including vaccines and screening
to prevent cervical cancer. According to
CDC statistics, cervical cancer was previously the leading cause of
cancer death among women in the United States. The single biggest factor, according to the CDC, in reducing cervical cancer mortality over the last 40 years: the availability of
Pap tests, which can detect
precancerous cervical cells (for instance, changes resulting from
HPV, which
more than a quarter of U.S. women ages 14 to 59 tested positive for in 2007) before they develop into cancer.
The House did not, incidentally, vote to prevent the military from
sponsoring NASCAR race cars.
posted by The Whelk at 5:48 PM on February 18, 2011 [67 favorites]