As congressional Republicans attempt to pass measures to end funding to Planned Parenthood and the Title X program, health care providers fear the devastating consequences for women and health care services. The Hartford Courant reports that Republican legislation could force Planned Parenthood to shut down many of the organization’s clinics. Far-right groups like the Family Research Council say that “there are plenty of other clinics out there to take up the slack,” but health care providers don’t buy the misinformed rhetoric of groups like the FRC, and worry about the GOP’s attack on women’s health care:

"I can’t even imagine what would happen if Planned Parenthood’s patient base would suddenly have to be absorbed here or at other clinics," said Dr. Peter J. Beller, the director of Hartford Hospital’s Women’s Ambulatory Health Services.

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"Defunding Planned Parenthood would be the moral equivalent of turning off the electricity and a whole segment of health care would go dark," said Mark Masselli, the president of Community Health Center Inc., which serves a population of about 130,000 uninsured and working poor patients in 12 cities throughout the state.

"Many women in the state would just go without vital reproductive health services," Masselli said. "This is what people just don’t seem to understand. There just is no other capacity in Connecticut for what Planned Parenthood provides."

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The state’s new health commissioner, Dr. Jewel Mullen, cites another reason for opposing defunding. In February, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report showing that the national birth rate for teens was dropping dramatically, with Connecticut registering the fourth-lowest teen birth rate in the country.

Mullen said Planned Parenthood’s birth-control services — especially to the urban poor — have played an important role in lowering the teen birth rate.

"Statistics show that as few as one-third of teen mothers finish high school," Mullen said. "Less than 2 percent finish college. That has huge social and economic costs. You can’t be very optimistic about the outcome for this group if they don’t have access to basic reproductive services."