Contraceptives have a proven track record of enhancing the health of women and children preventing unintended pregnancy and reducing the need for abortion.

To do what we are doing in this budget to our children cutting their health care funds decreasing opportunity simply so we can pay for tax cuts and a war in Iraq is beyond belief and we need to reverse it.

There should not be one new dime in tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires as long as millions of children in America are poor hungry uneducated and without health coverage.

I believe that investing in our children's development from the earliest age is the single most important contribution we can make to the health and wellbeing of our citizens their capacity and the future prosperity of our state.

When elected officials abandon our environment and ruin our natural resources public health is endangered. I know the importance of providing a clean environment for our children I have attended more than one funeral for a child who has died from an asthma attack.

For the past two years President Obama has promised our children the moon stars rainbows unicorns and universal health care for all. But the White House Santa's cradle-to-grave entitlement mandates are a spectacularly predictable bust.

The public health of five million children should not be left to luck or chance.

In the beginning when I sat next to Tom Brokaw on the 'Today' show the stories I was interested in were those having to do with women and children and learning and health. In those days 25 to 30 years ago that was called soft news and not in a nice way.

And I believe that if we can care about whether or not our neighbor has a good job or access to affordable health care for their children and we move to implement the policies that can improve these situations we will unleash vast amounts of human potential and recapture the American spirit.

Children born to teens have less supportive and stimulating environments poorer health lower cognitive development and worse educational outcomes. Children of teen mothers are at increased risk of being in foster care and becoming teen parents themselves thereby repeating the cycle.