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Show Birth control forced on poor States that do not furnish birth control counseling, counsel-ing, devices and pills to the poor are being pressured to do so by the Senate Finance Committee. Penalities are being levied on such states, up to two percent of their total federal welfare payments for families with dependent children. The Office of Economic Opportunity now pays for sterilization operations, while its sister agency, HEW, now finances abortions through Medicaid. The poor and racial minorities are the target. , Even the postoffice got into the act with an eight cent stamp picturing a family with two children. The caption: "Family Planning." The middle class are not subjected to the aggressive coercion that is foisted on those who depend on welfare. But Federal propaganda prop-aganda aimed at the middle class includes reports outlining the cost of children, from baby food to college col-lege degrees. By not mentioning the positive values of parenthood parent-hood and children, reports such as the one just issued by the Commission of Population and America's Future Fu-ture furthers the national psychology against having children. As a consequence, the birth rate is the lowest low-est in history and dropping even further. In the past, the federal government paid 75 percent per-cent of the cost of birth control services in the various var-ious states. Now each state getting money for this purpose is required to set up programs broad enough to reach 93 percent of those who might be eligible. New provisions by the Senate Finance Committee call for the federal government to pay 100 percent of the cost of providing birth control services for all poor women of child-bearing age. So the poor are not to have children! That is the worst discrimination of all. By that standard how many of us would have been born? ' |