No keno $$for PlannedParenthood

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BYAARONSANDERFORD

Planned Parenthood of Lincoln onTuesday lost $3,000 that could have helped more Spanish-speaking families learn about sexually transmitted disease and pregnancy prevention.

The Lancaster County Board, led by Commissioner Bob Workman, let the funds lie.

Workman made a motion to deny the funds to Planned Parenthood. The motion died for lack of a second, but none of the commissioners acted to support the funds.

"I'm an advocate of the right to life," Workman said after the meeting. "I'm not comfortable supporting Planned Parenthood."

The Lincoln-Lancaster County Human Services director, Kit Boesch, argued for the program, saying it served a community need.

County Commissioner Deb Schorr, who also is on the board that recommended the program be funded, said the committee had argued about Planned Parenthood and decided the program's benefits outweighed the perception problem that supporting it presents.

The $3,000 is part of $38,800 in keno recommendations from the Keno Human Services Prevention Fund Advisory Board.

The advisory board fields applications annually from regional human service agencies and recommends up to $7,500 each in a given year to agencies the board deems fit.

The Lincoln City Council also must approve the expenditures.

Among the agencies the county approved funding for were:

n Lincoln Action Program, $4,500 for adding to the number of telephone language help lines for Communities Helping Immigrants and Refugees Progress.

n Kiwanis Club of Lincoln, $3,750 for a year-round incentive program, called the Teddy Bear Cottage, for pregnant teens or women of differing ethnicities who want to learn how to lead healthier lives.

n People's City Mission, $6,500 to help feed more than 3,000 needy people because of its 26 percent increase in visitors last year.

Workman argued that he'd rather see the money spent on the city mission or the language line, then backed away from that idea when Boesch said the board would rather give the money to another agency or agencies, reconsidering some that failed to win approval.

The program had never been funded with keno money, Boesch said, and would likely continue.

According to Planned Parenthood, the joint program operated with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has for five years trained Spanish-speaking mothers in reproductive health, baby spacing, contraception, sexually transmitted diseases, parenting, how to talk to children, parenting through puberty, and the benefits of breast and cervical cancer screening.

The program itself is in no danger, said Chris Funk, who heads Planned Parenthood of Lincoln.

The keno funds could have helped to expand the program, she said, allowing transportation or child-care stipends for 10 mothers to attend the monthly classes.

"It's very frustrating and very disappointing how politicized public health has become,"Funk said."We do more to prevent abortion, what he's concerned about, than any other organization."

Reach Aaron Sanderford at 473-7225 or asanderford@;journalstar.com.