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Last week, a radio host asked Governor Chris Christie this question:

"Will there be money restored for family planning in New Jersey?" The Governor answered in one word:"No."

The legislature is expected to pass a bill today distributing $7.5 million to family planning centers in the state, but they barely have any say - it effectively has already been vetoed. Let your legislators know: you must override the governor's anticipated veto. Take action at

The governor's "no" to funding family planning centers (which provide low-cost birth control and medical treatment for women) sent a shockwave that resounded across New Jersey:

"No" to independent decision-making

Women who can't afford the expense of a baby, teenagers who aren't ready to have children, and mothers who can't handle another child or are finished raising kids will have fewer resources for birth control. And even though the governor knows well that this funding does not support abortion services, he doesn't care.

"No" to curbing cancer

Taking away this funding will impede the fight against cancer. You don't have to take the ACLU's word for it - you can take the word of the New Jersey government. The state health department has two main solutions for fighting cervical cancer: improving access to pap smears and increasing the HPV vaccine, which prevents women from getting the strains of the virus that cause most cervical cancers. Chris Christie has instead chosen to diminish access to screening.

"No" to alleviating New Jersey's financial woes

In the interview Tuesday, Christie explained:

"I don't believe that that is a priority in a budget where you have to cut 11 billion dollars."

The governor can't hide behind the budget as an excuse. Governor Christie in fact failed to renew an application to receive matching funds from the federal government, which would have provided nine dollars for every dollar New Jersey spent on family planning. If New Jersey had applied for that federal waiver, that funding would have been an investment in women with guaranteed returns. Now, the calculation is simple: zero.

Family planning services save the state money. Every dollar spent on family planning saves four dollars in Medicaid expenses.

"No" to the lives of women who need testing and treatment most

As of 2004, out of every 100,000 African-American women, 14.1 will develop cervical cancer. For white women, that number is 9 out of every 100,000. The numbers for mortality are even more sobering: out of 100,000 white women in the state, 2.3 will die of cervical cancer. For African-American women, the number who will die is 6.2.

The New Jersey health department said it best: "Women at the highest risk for cervical cancer are least likely to utilize screening." And they're also the most likely to feel the pain of these cuts personally.

"No" to common sense

"No woman is not going to get health care because of this," Christie said.

If family planning centers close, it will be harder for women to find a place they can afford or a way to get there. Family planning centers are the only options some women have.

"No" to women's opinions

When asked why family planning wasn't a priority he said, "Because that's my opinion. And it's the opinion obviously of the majority of the people who deliberated on this or it would have changed."

It's not the opinion of the women deliberating on their lives.

Share your opinion right now about Governor Christie's poor choices on women's health, and ask your legislators to override the veto. Take action at

Watch Chris Christie explain in an interview last week why he believes women's health is not a priority in New Jersey. He delivers his blows to women's health between minutes 21 and 23 of this video -- posted on ustream.tv: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/7851633