NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Metro Council pulled $500,000 from city departments, including police, to send money to Planned Parenthood.

The money is now set to pay for things like sexual education and birth control.

The Metro Health Department already offers family planning services, but last week the Metro Council voted to send $500,000 to Planned Parenthood.

The health department asked for the money for itself, but according to its director, “the impetus” of Metro Council’s action “was less about family planning services than to make a political statement.”

“I would push back pretty strongly against that association that this is just a political issue,” Council member Freddie O’Connell said.

O’Connell sponsored the resolution that funded Planned Parenthood.

“I would dispute that and I would contend that not only that Planned Parenthood but other organizations that we’ve worked with that we think are going to be sub-recipients to some of this funding would say that funding is going to go directly to providing education and to supply materials and resources that would not have been likely without it,” Councilman O’Connell said.

The funding for the grant was pulled from more than a dozen departments, including $90,000 from police and $60,000 from parks and recreation.

Councilman O’Connell said he wanted to fund this differently but that is not what passed.

When News 2 asked Metro’s Health Department about what its director said, a spokesperson told us, “We are supportive of any plan that will support family planning and sex education efforts in our community, including this one.”