The Bush Administration and California officials are at odds over the state's ten-year-old Family Planning program. The federal government wants the state to require undocumented immigrants to show proof of citizenship to get services. State officials say that would be a bad move. KPBS reporter Kenny Goldberg has more.
To comply with a new federal law, California will soon require all Medi-Cal recipients to prove they're legal residents. But the state is balking at the idea of extending that provision to the California Family Planning program.
Vince Hall is with the San Diego chapter of Planned Parenthood. He says imposing new restrictions could result in more unintended pregnancies.
Hall : Well, in states that have already implemented the federal requirement, the participation in the publicly funded contraception programs has already declined 30 to 40 percent.
California officials say its program saves the state more than a billion dollars a year by reducing unplanned pregnancies. Officials are lobbying the federal government to keep the status quo.
Kenny Goldberg, KPBS News.
