Assemblywomen storm the Gov's office

by: Rosi Efthim

Wed Jul 07, 2010 at 01:01:04 PM EDT

He wasn't there. Two of his aides met the women at the door, requesting they call in advance if they want to see him. Christie was at a private residence in Somerset County talking about his property tax cap plans at an event. Asw Valerie Huttle is one of the bill's sponsors:

We were dismissed, in my opinion, as we walked into the governor's office without any real sense of a schedule or 'I'm going to take care of this.'

The assemblywomen - joined by Asm John Burzichelli - made no appointment. But Linda Stender, another sponsor, said she tried Friday to make an appointment with (pro-choice) LG Kim Guadagno. Her call was never returned.

They're right to wonder. Christie has not distanced himself from on-the-record statements made by his GOP State Chair, Asm Jay Webber, that the $7.5 million in family planning funds simply funnels money to abortion providers. The bill specifically prohibits those funds paying for abortions, but anti-abortion activists, like Webber, complain 29 of the 58 clinics affected are run by Planned Parenthood.

The reality? More than 136,000 New Jerseyans are served in the family planning centers whose budgets are being slashed. They get screenings for breast and cervical cancer and for high blood pressure, for anemia and diabetes, for HIV/AIDS and for sexually transmitted infections. Many of their patients are uninsured; the clinics are their primary care. This includes women who get their birth control care there, and say they may have to go off birth control if they lose the clinic.

Know what you get if you have sexually-active people with no access to contraception? You get more abortions. Somebody tell Jay Webber. Somebody tell Chris Christie.