Our view: Women's health clinics deserve public funding

Ravalli County commissioners took a big step in the wrong direction last week when they voted to halt the program that provides women’s health services to 400 county residents, most of them poor.

At the heart of the concerns expressed by the three commissioners who voted to eliminate the program was that birth control could be provided to minors without parental consent.

They argued that women old enough to decide to have sex aren’t old enough to make their own decision about birth control.

The program, funded by a $50,000 federal grant, also provided cancer screenings, tests for HIV and other diseases, pregnancy tests and assistance with many other women’s health issues.

Recently health experts in Hill County tapped teen pregnancy as one of the top three issues affecting the county’s overall health.

Babies born to teen mothers are more likely to live in poverty, more likely to live in single-parent homes, more likely to become ill and face mounting obstacles on a variety of fronts.

Teen mothers are more likely to halt their education. They face the consequences for the rest of their lives.

It is to the benefit of everyone in the county, especially the parents and children involved, to delay pregnancy until the parents are financially and emotionally ready to be parents. County health clinics have been a key force in keeping the teen pregnancy levels lower than they might be.

Opponents of birth control programs argue that abstinence-only programs are the legitimate alternative. Indeed, they have a place in churches, schools and civic arenas, but the plain fact is that in many cases, they simply don’t work.

And programs that require parental consent for birth control are often just as ineffective. Sadly, many children don’t want to or can’t talk to their parents about such issues.

Turning our heads and voting for the world as we wish it was will not work.

Many teens will have sex at an early age, and we as a society should offer them a complete list of health care choices.

However well-intentioned, the Ravalli County decision creates a disaster in the waiting. The young people of the county, especially poor young people, will be the ones to suffer the most.