Family Planning Grant Awarded in Tennessee: Christ Community In, Planned Parenthood Out

A six-person team of health and administrative professionals has selected Christ Community Health Services (CCHS) over Planned Parenthood to provide family planning services to low-income Shelby County residents.

The $397,900 in funding is part of federal Title X, which covers STD testing and treatment, cancer screenings and birth control counseling, drugs and devices; it does not cover abortion.

"The bid was awarded, and it was not Planned Parenthood," said county Health Department Director Yvonne Madlock, noting the result ends any local contracts with the organization. The new contract with CCHS must still be approved by the County Commission. Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell said he aims to have it before the board by the end of September.

Earlier this year, state lawmakers sought to strip Planned Parenthood of all government funding, a controversy that Madlock acknowledged. "A number of organizations and entities and individuals have expressed dissatisfaction with this," she said of the panel's decision.

Luttrell, however, maintains that politics played no role in the switch to CCHS. Panel members ranked the proposals individually, then submitted their results, he said. CCHS had the highest cumulative score.

"I can only speak for the process that we followed, and if you don't follow that process to the letter, then you're open for second-guessing and protests," Luttrell said. "I make it very clear to our people that we follow the strictest guidelines so what we do can stand the strictest of scrutiny."

Back to other news for September 2011