A lot of time was spent writing a bill  blocking state tax dollars from going to Planned Parenthood and then discussing it and passing it along each side of the Republican and Democrat divide in Jackson.

While we understand the bill is targeting future efforts with the state’s sole Planned Parenthood clinic in Hattiesburg, since July 2013, Mississippi Medicaid records show the state has only spent $439 with the clinic.

Mississippi is just the latest in a string of states to make this move though, so it is positive we are keeping up with the rest of the country. However, it again seems this session has been about the hot-button emotional issues instead of making way for real change, like in the school system or in health care.

We suggest that if legislators spent that much time on something that amounted to perception and $439 over the course of almost three years, they too find a way to get more money into the health departments that need to provide for teenagers and young adults who are lacking the basic non-abortion services from Planned Parenthood or another local clinic.

Mississippi has high STD rates even among married adults and the last thing we need in 10 or 20 years is taxpayers paying for costly cancer treatments for women who walked around with undiagnosed HPV for years. And, our fellow residents shouldn’t have to deal with that pain because there is not enough state funding.