PORTLAND — More than 100 women and men gathered in a Portland church today to protest efforts to cut federal funding for Planned Parenthood and family planning clinics.

The Maine Choice Coalition, which includes the Maine Civil Liberties Union and the Family Planning Association of Maine among others, organized the event at the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church to call attention to the debate in Congress.

Additional Photos

Members of the Maine Choice Coalition, including Lizzy Reinholt of Stratton, foreground, hold a press conference today in response to the proposed elimination of a family planning program known as Title X. The program helps pay for birth control, screening and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and pre-natal care for low income women. The press conference took place at First Parish Unitarian Church in Portland. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

The House of Representatives has voted to cut off so-called Title X funding that supports Planned Parenthood and family planning health centers, including 45 centers in Maine. Organizers called for supporters of the health centers to contact Maine Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and urge them to vote against the cut in funding.

Kate Brogan of the family Planning Association of Maine said the health centers provide affordable, primary preventive health care to women, men and teens, including cancer screenings, treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and birth control services. Without the funding for the centers, she said, Maine’s teen pregnancy rate would double and the state’s abortion rate would be 86 percent higher than it is today.

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