Senate committee approves diverting family planning funds

A Kansas Senate committee has voted to permanently divert federal family planning funding from abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday approved a bill that would make permanent a 2011 provision that distributes funding for Title X, a federally financed family planning program. The provision gives funding priority to public health departments and clinics ahead of private family planning clinics.

Sen. Marci Francisco, a Democrat from Lawrence who opposed the measure, suggested a change that would expand access to long-lasting reversible contraception, but the committee voted against the proposal.

Planned Parenthood challenged the provision in federal court and ultimately lost in the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Denver in 2014.