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HAMILTON- Ravalli County commissioners are voting to continue accepting federal funding to help pay for operations of the county's family planning clinic, saying the services are needed for adult men and women as well as teens.

The county has been going through some debate over the past year about accepting the Title X funding for the public health programs.

Some conservatives were expecting the all-Republican board to reject the money because of the moral debate over giving sexually active teens birth control. Commissioners had said they wanted to find another way to pay for the programs, but that hasn't been developed.

People showed up to support the program Monday and the commissioners said the overall benefits of the program to preventing disease and other health complications for adult men and women were critical to its continued operation.

"As a society, we could miss the opportunity to intervene early in medical care and treatment of men and women, and they end of with an exacerbated problem that they can't pay for, ultimately we pay that cost as well," Ravalli County Commissioner Greg Chilcott said.

"But in the overall scheme of this program, and what is offered to participants who are not minor children, far outweighs that balancing act for me. Especially in this economy. It's a moral dilemma that each of us faces," Ravalli County Commissioner Suzy Foss commented.

Commissioners Ron Stoltz and Matt Kanenwisher voted against sending the letter of intent to accept the $40,000 with Kanenwisher saying he still feels the program violates parents' rights.