The question of Planned Parenthood's government funding is so divisive that it almost shut down the federal government this month before a last-minute compromise. Now, the issue is splitting Hoosiers after the legislature moved closer to making Indiana the first state to ban the agency from receiving Medicaid funds.

The state Senate voted on Tuesday to cut off all tax dollars going to Planned Parenthood of Indiana, a proposal that had died earlier in the House. Opponents of defunding argue that Planned Parenthood, barred from using tax money for abortions, puts the funds into family-planning and other health services that aren't widely available elsewhere, especially for the poor and uninsured. They also say these services can reduce abortions, that simply removing government funding won't decrease the number of abortions, and that Indiana will ring up a $68 million Medicaid bill for unintended pregnancies if the measure passes.

Still, as a private organization, Planned Parenthood doesn't have a special right to public funding. The fact that it performed 5,500 abortions in Indiana last year can't be ignored.

The key question is whether all women in Indiana would have access to health care such as cancer screenings, protection against sexually transmitted disease and birth control if Planned Parenthood is denied tax dollars.

The answer, for now, is uncertain. In some areas of the state, particularly in Southern Indiana, women have few alternatives to Planned Parenthood for reproductive health services unrelated to abortion.

It's true that some clinics that don't perform abortions hope to expand. A clinic called Open Door Health Services, for example, plans to double its patient capacity within three years.

But what will women do in the interim if Planned Parenthood cuts its services or closes clinics because of the loss of public dollars? And what happens if alternative clinics, despite their best intentions, aren't able to raise the money needed to greatly expand their capacity?

Abortion opponents shouldn't let their disdain for Planned Parenthood lead them to make decisions that ultimately could hurt women, including many who have no intention of having an abortion.

In an ideal world, all women, regardless of where they live in the state, would have sound alternatives to Planned Parenthood. But, as abortion opponents know all too well, the world, as it now exists, is far from ideal.