Chicago joins objection to federal family planning changes

SHARE Chicago joins objection to federal family planning changes
rahm_120215_14_57892264_e1536965192597.jpg

Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Friday he’s confident in the Chicago Police Department’s plan to handle any adverse reaction to the jury verdict in Jason Van Dyke’s murder trial.| Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file photo

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.

The Latest
The man was found unresponsive in an alley in the 10700 block of South Lowe Avenue, police said.
The man suffered head trauma and was pronounced dead at University of Chicago Medical Center, police said.
Another federal judge in Chicago who also has dismissed gun cases based on the same Supreme Court ruling says the high court’s decision in what’s known as the Bruen case will “inevitably lead to more gun violence, more dead citizens and more devastated communities.”
Women make up just 10% of those in careers such as green infrastructure and clean and renewable energy, a leader from Openlands writes. Apprenticeships and other training opportunities are some of the ways to get more women into this growing job sector.
Chatterbox doesn’t seem aware that it’s courteous to ask questions, seek others’ opinions.