PolitiFact: Zika bill limited access to birth control? Partly.

Emergency money to block the spread of the Zika virus won't be coming any time real soon. A $1.1 billion measure failed to win support for a vote in the Senate.

The major stumbling point was strings that were attached to the measure as it relates to combating the virus in Puerto Rico.

After the House passed the bill on a largely party-line vote, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., berated it.

"The House Zika bill is a disaster," Nelson said June 24. "[I]t limits access to birth control services needed to help curb the spread of the virus and prevent terrible birth defects." We wondered about Nelson's claim.

The language in the bill that limited how money could be spent said the dollars in question were "for health services provided by public health departments, hospitals, or reimbursed through public health plans."

Helen Hare, spokeswoman for the Democrats, told us this language cut out Profamilias, the Puerto Rican branch of Planned Parenthood.

This is about more than abortion services, Democrats say.

Zika can be transmitted through sex. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says condoms can reduce the chance of getting Zika. Hare said Profamilias served 8,000 people in 2015.

Republicans counter that the bill would have funded many health clinics and women would not be denied care. Many Puerto Ricans live in rural areas. Martin Kramer with the Health and Human Services Department told us that the island territory has 20 community health centers operating at 84 sites.

According to HHS, that network provides contraceptive services to more than 16,600 women each year.

Out of a bit under 20 municipalities not served by the community health clinics, we found about eight that lacked any facility. What's important is that everywhere Profamilias lists a clinic there is another type of facility that would have been eligible for additional funding.

One expert we spoke with said that while Puerto Ricans may have had access to another clinic, Profamilias serves a specific type of client.

"The Planned Parenthood-style clinic tends to serve very young, very poor women," said Peter Shin, an associate professor in public health at George Washington University. Shin said these clinics generally do better at connecting with women who are more at risk at having unprotected sex.

Nelson, along with many other Democrats, said the Zika funding bill would limit access to family planning and contraceptives that would help stop the spread of Zika. However, the bill also provided funds that would potentially help clinics and hospitals in nearly every municipality on the island. At the same time, Profamilias serves women who might be more at risk of infection because they tend to be young and poor.

The statement is partly accurate but leaves out important details. We rate this claim Half True.

PolitiFact.com is a project operated by the Tampa Bay Times, in which reporters and editors from the Times and affiliated media outlets "fact-check statements by members of Congress, the White House, lobbyists and interest groups." The Star Tribune opinion pages periodically republish these reports.