Chicago joins objection to federal family planning changes

CHICAGO — The city of Chicago has joined 19 other local governments in a legal brief supporting Planned Parenthood’s challenge of federal changes to funding requirements.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Thursday that Chicago joined in a friend-of-the-court brief with a group of cities led by Columbus, Ohio.

Planned Parenthood is opposed to proposed changes to federal funding for clinics that provide family planning services, including abortions. Advocates say funding for contraception and reproductive health care reduces the need for abortions. Services also include cervical and breast-cancer screening, treatment for sexually transmitted infections and more for low-income patients.

Emanuel says the changes would affect those services because they would require encouraging abstinence for all patients and a preference for family planning provided in the same location as primary health care.