Following an informal proposal by White House officials, Planned Parenthood has stated that they won’t stop providing abortion services to women. The Trump administration offered Planned Parenthood to preserve the federal payments to the group if the organization discontinues abortion practices.
The organization responded explaining that they have never used federal funds for abortions, only for other women’s health services they provide, and that offering money to abandon their patients and values is a deal they’ll never accept.
The decision to defund an organization that helps countless women around the United States worries a lot of patients that can’t afford medical treatment on a private clinic and that rely on the organization for treating their conditions.
Planned Parenthood receives over $500 million in public funds, and that funding is solely destined to services like contraception and cancer screenings, as well as screenings for sexually transmitted diseases. Now, Republicans in Congress are pushing an Affordable Care Act repeal, which will prevent Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds for a year, a long time for low-income women that can’t afford other alternatives.
No other alternative
Women around the country have reacted to the news badly, claiming that the government can’t take away Planned Parenthood’s funds. Dawn States, a 26-year old that relies on Planned Parenthood, talked to NPR about her case.
“I wasn’t sure what was going to happen in the next foreseeable future- and I actually physically can’t have kids. My spine is fused and I have two rods. So it’s just not really set up for carrying around an infant” said States, according to NPR.
She, like many others, relies on Planned Parenthood, which for years has helped her obtain contraceptives and gynecological care. She has gone to the organization to get an IUD, but she’s unsure of what she’ll do if government cuts are held in place.
The Republican call
Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress said that they will shortly move legislation to strip federal funds from Planned Parenthood, and a provision stating that was added to the Affordable Care Act repeal released on Monday.
Other health organizations like Family First Health have raised their concern about these upcoming budget cuts, seeing as more patients –with more of half of them receiving Medicaid- turn to their clinics for care.
Jenny Englerth, Family First Health CEO, says that frequently they have to turn down patients because they can’t care for all of them, and the budget cuts will increase the number of people turning to them. However, she said that if Planned Parenthood were no longer an option for some patients, her network of clinics will try to meet the need.
Source: NPR