Women's health funding faces cuts in Montana

HELENA — When Jennifer Strickley first learned she had ovarian cancer, it was Planned Parenthood that detected the disease.

She had been going to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Billings for about a decade, as the discounts on Pap tests, contraception and regular checkups provided an essential break for the single mom working without health insurance as a waitress to support her two kids.

So when she found lump on her abdomen in 2011, that's where she went to get it checked out.

Strickley is one of 26,000 Montanans who rely upon clinics that receive federal family planning and preventive health...