Some States Already Are Targeting Birth Control
Last year, conservative Republicans in the Missouri legislature took a run at blocking Medicaid funding from going to Planned Parenthood, a frequent and prominent target of anti-abortion activists and politicians.
But in the fine print of their measure, those Republicans revealed that their ambition wasnt only to target a familiar abortion foe. They were going after specific forms of birth control as well, notably, emergency contraceptives, often sold under the brand name Plan B, and intrauterine devices, known as IUDs. GOP lawmakers tried to stop Missouris Medicaid agency from paying for those forms of contraception.
Missouri state Sen. Paul Wieland, one of the Republicans who led that effort, explained his position this way: The bottom line is there is only one time something definitively happens and thats the moment of conception. Once that happens, anything that happens should not be state funded.
Wieland and his allies failed, mostly because they tried to attach their measure to a must-pass bill extending a tax on hospitals that helps pay for the states Medicaid program, which provides health care for low-income Missourians, including children.
And as the Missouri episode demonstrated, skirmishing over birth control methods already has begun, as Republican lawmakers push to restrict access to birth control methods they claim are abortifacient, or causing abortions.
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In the House, Republicans can afford to lose fewer than two dozen votes from members of their own party if all Democrats vote in opposition.
The Fight Over Federal Funding For Planned Parenthood Seems To Be About Much More Than Whether Taxpayer Dollars Should Be Going To Planned Parenthood
Doug Mataconis·Sunday, February 27, 2011·
I must admit that Ive never quite understood why social conservatives are so vehement in their opposition to contraceptive use, or even the very idea of sex education, while at the same time being stridently pro-life. After all, it seems quite logical that more widespread use of contraceptives would make abortion far less likely, which is something I think that both pro-choice and pro-life people would say is a good thing. Nonetheless, the opposition continues, as personified by Kathryn Jean Lopezs column at Townhall today:
That certainly seems to be the implication, for example, in the post that Robert Stacey McCain writes about Lopezs column:
While Mccain doesnt really come out and say that contraception should be illegal which is quite different from the question of whether or not an organization like Planned Parenthood should receive government subsidies the mention of Griswold seems telling. That, after all, is the case where the Supreme Court struck down a Connecticut law that made it a crime to sell contraceptives even to married couples, based primarily on a right to marital and sexual privacy emanating from the un-enumerated rights protected by the Ninth Amendment. Several years later, that holding was extended to strike down a statute that prohibited the sale of contraceptives to unmarried couples. In that case, Eisenstadt v. Baird, the Court said:
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Republican Views On Planned Parenthood
April 28, 2017 By RepublicanViews.org
House Speaker Paul Ryan has stated, with much support from his party, that Republicans are planning to cut government funding to Planned Parenthood once the Affordable Care Act has been replaced.
Democrats have fought this goal intensely, and a national campaign launched by Planned Parenthood is dedicated to keeping Republicans in Congress from passing legislation to defund the organization. The half a million dollars provided to Planned Parenthood through the federal government every year goes to a variety of services, and this is primarily the source of conflict. Republican views on Planned Parenthood are deeply rooted in their objection to abortions, and the possibility that these federal funds are going towards what their party considers to be murder.
Congress Moving Ahead With Plans To Cut Medicaid Payments Grant Money To Planned Parenthood
During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump joined other Republicans in vowing to end federal funding for Planned Parenthood, solely because the health services provider helps some patients obtain abortions.
At a GOP debate in Houston, Trump responded to criticism from Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida that Trump had defended Planned Parenthood.
As far as Planned Parenthood is concerned, Im pro-life. Im totally against abortion, having to do with Planned Parenthood, Trump said on Feb. 25, 2016. But millions and millions of women cervical cancer, breast cancer are helped by Planned Parenthood. So you can say whatever you want, but they have millions of women going through Planned Parenthood that are helped greatly. And I wouldnt fund it.
I would defund it because of the abortion factor, which they say is 3 percent. I dont know what percentage it is. They say its 3 percent. But I would defund it, because Im pro-life. But millions of women are helped by Planned Parenthood.
WHY HES PROMISING IT
Politicians and groups opposed to abortion rights attacked Planned Parenthood after a series of heavily edited videos appeared in the summer of 2015.
Those videos, from the group Center for Medical Progress, purported to show officials from Planned Parenthood discussing how the organization illegally sells tissue from aborted fetuses for profit.
WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN
HOW MUCH IT WILL COST
WHATS STANDING IN HIS WAY
POSSIBLE TIMELINE
No Democrats voted for the measure.
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Democratic Super Pac Trump Campaign Launch New Ad Campaigns
WASHINGTON Unite the Country, a super PAC that supports apparent Democratic nominee Joe Biden, and President Trumps campaign are spending big money ahead of the parties conventions this summer.
Unite the Countrys $10 million ad campaign launched Friday and will last until the Democratic convention. Their first ad of this campaign, entitled Deserve, focuses on rebuilding the economy and Biden retelling his familys story of leaving Pennsylvania for work opportunities during the 2012 Democratic convention.
A job is about a lot more than a paycheck. Its about dignity, its about respect, its about your place in the community, Biden said in 2012.
Unite the Country was formed by Biden allies in October to support his candidacy during the Democratic primaries. Now, it is one of several super PACs working to boost Biden in the general election. While this ad signals a positive message, another prominent super PAC, Priorities USA, has been spending heavily on Bidens behalf with spots strongly critical of President Trump and his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
On Thursday, the Trump campaign came out with its own 60-second ad attacking the former vice president on China. Like past ads the campaign and PACs supporting the president have run against Biden, the ad alleges Biden would be soft on China.
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Politicians Behind Defund Attacks Have One Goal In Mind: To Shut Down Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood is a not-for-profit organization with about 600 health centers nationwide that provide a full range of sexual and reproductive health care, including abortion. Discriminatory federal policies have long prevented the use of public programs like Medicaid and Title X to pay for abortion.
Going after patients who would obtain government-funded care at Planned Parenthood, politicians show theyre willing to block access to essential care like birth control, STD testing and treatment, and Pap tests for the sake of their agenda. They want to make safe, legal abortion as difficult as possible to access and if people lose access to lifesaving care in the process, so be it.
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Republicans Want To Defund Planned Parenthood As Part Of Obamacare Fight
House speaker Paul Ryan gave first official word that repeal legislation would also renew the congressional assault on the womens health organization
House speaker Paul Ryan said on Thursday that Republicans would legislate to defund Planned Parenthood as part of their attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
The same day, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund announced a national effort against such attempts to defund it.
Ryan spoke a day after a special House panel issued a report criticizing Planned Parenthood, which provides womens health services, for its practices regarding providing tissue from aborted fetuses to researchers.
Allegations regarding such practices were at the heart of a scandal involving videos filmed by an anti-abortion activists. Investigations in 13 states concluded without criminal charges, and Planned Parenthood officials have denied any wrongdoing.
Ryans comments, while expected, were the first official word that repeal legislation would also renew the congressional assault on the group.
The Planned Parenthood legislation would be in our reconciliation bill, Ryan said.
Last years Obamacare repeal measure also contained an effort to defund Planned Parenthood, which receives government reimbursements from the Medicaid program for non-abortion health services to low-income women. It receives reimbursements for contraception services from a different government account.
What Does It Actually Mean To Defund Planned Parenthood At The Federal Level
The more than $500 million Planned Parenthood receives annually from the federal government the funding that Republicans in Congress now want to take away pays for specifichealth services, like birth control or cervical cancer screening, for people who couldnt afford them otherwise.
Most of the funds are actually reimbursements from Medicaid, the USs public health insurance program for the poor. Just like with any other insurance, Medicaid patients go to their health care appointment first and then have Medicaid pay all or most of the bill later.
The rest of Planned Parenthoods federal funds come in the form of grants from Title X, the nations only federal program for family planning. Title X grants are awarded on a competitive basis to clinics that meet the programs standards for family planning coverage and services. Title X subsidizes free or low-cost contraception and other preventive services, and its especially helpful for low-income or uninsured people who make too much to qualify for Medicaid.
In practice, defunding Planned Parenthood takes funding away from its mostly low-income patients
However, Republican lawmakers often argue that if the federal government funds Planned Parenthood through these programs, its still effectively funding abortion which violates the spirit of the Hyde Amendment.
Defunding would be a huge financial blow to Planned Parenthood. But it would still keep offering abortion services.
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Title X Family Planning Funds
Reproductive rights advocates say the Trump administration, in its open hostility toward abortion, also effectively reduced access to birth control in states.
In 2019, the Trump administration adopted new rules blocking Title X family planning funding from going to providers who also offered abortion services or referred patients for abortions. The rules expelled many providers, notably Planned Parenthood, prompting some to close and eliminating for many patients access to the full range of reproductive health services.
The administration directed funding elsewhere, including in some cases to health centers that didnt provide full birth control services, instead emphasizing abstinence and use of the rhythm method.
Even after the Biden administration took over, signaling the likely rescinding of the policy change, which occurred in October, some states tried to preserve the changes made under Trump. In Missouri, for example, the health department this year applied to be the recipient and distributor of Title X funding in the state, although the Missouri Family Health Council has been the states grantee for 40 years.
We did have concerns, because the state has repeatedly and in numerous ways tried to limit and restrict funding to Planned Parenthood, and they said they were applying to make sure none of the funding went to them, Trupiano said. This spring, the Biden administration awarded a five-year grant to the council.
Crane did not respond to a request for comment.
Us Ethics Official To White House: No These Rules Definitely Apply To You
Together, providing contraception and the testing for and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases made up three-quarters of the services the organization provided in one year.
That means low-income women could be among the most heavily affected by this bill, as it may force them to find other providers for reproductive health services.
Of the other government money that goes to Planned Parenthood, most of it comes from Title X. That federal program, created under President Richard Nixon, provides family planning services to people beyond Medicaid, like low-income women who are not Medicaid-eligible.Earlier this year, Republicans started the process of stripping that funding.
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Gop Vows To Defund Planned Parenthood Reality Makes That Hard
If repeal and replace of the Affordable Care Act is Republicans job one, defunding Planned Parenthood is a close second.
In fact, the two priorities might be paired. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters Jan. 5 that efforts to defund the organization would be in our reconciliation bill, referring to a measure Congress has put on a fast track aimed at repealing major pieces of the health law.
But just as Republicans are discovering that undoing the health law could be complicated, so, too, is separating the controversial reproductive health care provider from its federal funding. Efforts to hastily jettison Planned Parenthood from federal ledgers could actually jeopardize GOP efforts to repeal the health law.
One problem is that Planned Parenthood gets its funding from several different government sources. According to the groups most recent annual report, covering 2015, Planned Parenthood affiliates, got $553.7 million from federal, state, and local governments, accounting for almost half of total funding.
None of the funds from either program may be used for abortion, under longstanding federal prohibitions. Only half of the Planned Parenthood affiliates even offer abortion services, the group says. But it is still the largest single provider of the procedure in the nation, which has made it a target for anti-abortion lawmakers since the 1980s.
Yet federal lawmakers have been stymied in these efforts.
But that might not work either.
Defunding Planned Parenthood Not So Easy
Washington Cutting off funding for Planned Parenthood is a priority for many congressional Republicans, but that effort is likely to stumble because other GOP lawmakers are hesitant to take aim at health clinics that are popular with their constituents.
Although the abortion services Planned Parenthood provides are bitterly opposed by conservative Republicans, polls show a majority of Americans support the organization. A recent Quinnipiac poll found overall, 31 percent of voters support cutting off federal funding to Planned Parenthood while twice that many, 62 percent, oppose cutting off funding. Other polls show defunding Planned Parenthood would hurt the electoral chances of some Senate Republicans.
Nevertheless, the GOP is moving forward on a promise it has made to defund the organization. The cutoff could be enacted in several ways.
One is included in the GOP plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, which would contain a provision to cut off about $500 million in federal money to Planned Parenthood.
Most of that money, about 75 percent, is actually reimbursement for health care from Medicaid, the joint federal-state health plan for the poor. The rest of the money is grants the federal government gives for clinics to serve the uninsured. If the GOP succeeds in defunding Planned Parenthood, its facilities in Connecticut would lose about $2 million in grants and millions more in Medicaid payments.
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How Would Defunding Planned Parenthood Actually Affect Peoples Lives
In practice, defunding Planned Parenthood takes funding away from its mostly low-income patients who might be forced to seek care elsewhere if the government stopped subsidizing their visits to Planned Parenthood. Low-income women will be hit especially hard, but all Planned Parenthood patients may be affected.
Reproductive health care is an incredibly basic, essential need, especially for women. Pregnancy is both a major medical event and a major financial one, and the decision of whether and when to give birth or become a parent is one of the most foundational, life-altering choices a person can make. Sexually transmitted diseases threaten lives and fertility if left undetected or untreated. Birth control can literally affect womens lives every day, from helping them fully participate in public life by avoiding unwanted pregnancy to alleviating the horrifying symptoms of endometriosis or premenstrual dysphoric disorder .
Do you know how much it costs as a woman just to test for a UTI if you dont go to PP? With insurance? Roughly $180.
Liz
Together, Medicaid and Title X combine to form our nations family planning safety net. Unfortunately, that safety net isnt well-funded enough to actually meet the countrys needs for subsidized contraception about 20 million women were in need of publicly funded contraceptive services in 2014, and only 7.8 million got them.
House Hears Planned Parenthood Testimony
Planned Parenthoods president, Cecile Richards, testified before the House on the necessity of the organizations work, while a representative questioned its need for federal subsidies.
WASHINGTON The embattled president of Planned Parenthood on Tuesday forcefully disputed what she called outrageous accusations by Republicans that her organization profits from the sale of fetal tissue, telling Congress that the charges were offensive and categorically untrue.
In testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the president, Cecile Richards, faced off against conservative lawmakers who are seeking to strip federal funding from Planned Parenthood after videos released by anti-abortion activists purported to show officials from the health group trying to sell fetal tissue. It was her first appearance before Congress since the issue exploded in July.
Ms. Richards said that the videos had been edited by the activists to mislead, and that Planned Parenthood facilitated the donation of only a small amount of fetal tissue and recouped only reasonable expenses as allowed by the law.
The latest smear campaign is based on efforts by our opponents to entrap our doctors and clinicians into breaking the law and once again, our opponents failed, Ms. Richards said.
Take the money from the guys doing the bad things, and give it to the ones who arent, Mr. Jordan said.
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