Family Planning Loses Out in the Budget Brawl

As the city-run Women's Health and Family Planning Center in Bayonne, N.J., closed its doors last month for the final time, workers hauled away desks, cabinets, and dozens of white boxes labeled "pregnancy tests" and "condoms." The clinic was one of six forced to close after Republican Governor Chris Christie eliminated all of the $7.45 million in state funding for family planning last year as part of an effort to narrow a budget shortfall approaching $11 billion.

While the governor opposes abortion, the decision to cut funding for clinics such as the one in Bayonne—which never performed the procedure—was motivated by economics, not politics, said Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak in an e-mail. "This is about the budget, making the hard choices and responsible spending."