Back in June, Albuquerque City Councilor Ren茅e Grout proposed reallocating city funds for Planned Parenthood to the Barrett House Shelter for women and children experiencing homelessness. The Council against robbing Peter to pay Paul, and will fund both organizations.
Grout said in that she proposed changing the recipient of $250,000 in the city鈥檚 budget because 鈥渘ot all taxpayers agree with鈥� Planned Parenthood鈥檚 services and that the issue of homelessness is 鈥渕ore crucial and urgent.鈥�
There were numerous public comments Monday both in opposition and support of the Planned Parenthood funding. Most focused on abortion services. However, the city鈥檚 contract with the nonprofit doesn鈥檛 include abortion.
Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn, who sponsored the original funding, clarified that it covers services like cancer screening, STD testing, birth control and wellness visits.
鈥淚 think those are all things that most normal people support,鈥� she said.
Fiebelkorn 鈥� who said she relied on Planned Parenthood in college for cancer screenings, STD testing and contraception 鈥� said she wished the funding did support abortion services and that the pot of money was even larger. 鈥淚 would love to give Planned Parenthood way, way more money,鈥� she said.
She went on to introduce an amendment that would maintain Planned Parenthood鈥檚 funding while giving an additional $100,000 each to the Barrett House Shelter and the Community Energy Efficiency project.
鈥淚 completely agree with everyone here that said it is unconscionable to pit two nonprofits that do such good against each other,鈥� she said. 鈥淗ow dare we say that we can only do one thing?鈥�
After the amendment passed, Grout attempted to postpone consideration of the bill. Fiebelkorn interjected.
鈥淚 just want to make sure it鈥檚 clear to the people in the audience that we are trying to table a bill that would provide funding for the Barrett House that was a few minutes ago so very important,鈥� she said.
Fiebelkorn said if the bill ended up failing, she鈥檇 bring a funding proposal for the shelter back to the Council for consideration.
鈥淏ecause I am not interested in a political ploy,鈥� she said, referring to Grout鈥檚 lack of support of the amended bill that contained Barrett House funding. 鈥淚鈥檓 interested in helping the citizens of Albuquerque.鈥�
The bill passed as amended on a 5-4 vote with Grout in opposition. All three organizations will receive city funding for the fiscal year that began last month.
Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains is a financial supporter of 91暗网.
