Planned Parenthood Cuts

House Republicans’ Bill To Repeal-And-Replace The ACA Blocked Medicaid Reimbursements To Planned Parenthood For One Year

Washington Post Headline: “Planned Parenthood Defunded For One Year Under GOP Health Bill” [Washington Post, 5/4/17]

The House GOP’s ACA Repeal-And-Replace Bill Blocked Medicaid Reimbursements To Planned Parenthood For One Year. According to The Washington Post, “In passing their health-care bill, House Republicans have also taken a first step toward dramatically slashing federal funds for Planned Parenthood clinics. The women’s health provider stands to lose about 30 percent of its funding under a provision in the GOP health-care bill to block it from getting Medicaid reimbursements for one year unless its hundreds of clinics stop offering abortions.” [Washington Post, 5/4/17]

• The Bill Would Deny About Half A Billion Dollars To Planned Parenthood. According to The Washington Post, “Planned Parenthood relies on federal reimbursements and grants for 43 percent of its budget, about $550 million a year, according to the group’s annual report. The GOP health-care bill does not block the $60 million in Title X family-planning funds Planned Parenthood receives annually. But losing out on half a billion dollars from the Medicaid program would be a heavy blow to the group, which operates about 700 clinics across the country. Planned Parenthood said Thursday in a statement that Congress is unfairly singling it out. House Democrats also objected.” [Washington Post, 5/4/17]

Trump Hosted A Party In The White House Rose Garden To Celebrate Passage Of The Bill

Trump Celebrated Passage Of The House GOP Healthcare Bill In The Rose Garden. According to PBS, “President Donald Trump is celebrating the passage of the House Republican health care bill, saying he is confident it will get through the Senate. Flanked by Republican lawmakers in the Rose Garden on Thursday, Trump called President Barack Obama’s health care law a ‘catastrophe’ and called the GOP bill ‘a great plan.’” [PBS, 5/4/17]

[PBS, 5/4/17]

Senate REpublicans’ Version Of The Bill – Of Which Trump Was “Very Supportive” – Also Blocked The Reimbursements For One Year

A Version Of The Senate GOP’s ACA Repeal-And-Replace Bill, The Better Care Reconciliation Act, Blocked Medicaid Reimbursements To Planned Parenthood For One Year. According to TIME, “The Senate’s long-awaited health care bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act, defunds Planned Parenthood, the country’s largest network provider of women’s health care, for at least one year. It also includes restrictions on subsidies for insurance plans that cover abortions. Excluding Planned Parenthood from Medicaid reimbursements and other forms of federal funding has long been on the wishlist of far-right conservatives. The draft language of the BCRA, the Senate GOP replacement plan for the Affordable Care Act, kicks the women’s health organization out of the Medicaid program, which accounts for 75% of the federal money Planned Parenthood receives (the funds come in the form of Medicaid reimbursements for services performed for low-income women).” [TIME, 6/22/17]

Trump Tweet: “I Am Very Supportive Of The Senate #HealthcareBill.” Donald J. Trump Tweeted: “I am very supportive of the Senate #HealthcareBill. Look forward to making it really special! Remember, ObamaCare is dead.” [Donald J. Trump Twitter, 6/22/17]

CBS: Planned Parenthood “Operates 661 Health Centers That Provide Services To 2.5 Million Women And Men Annually”

CBS: Planned Parenthood “Operates 661 Health Centers That Provide Services To 2.5 Million Women And Men Annually.” According to CBS News, “Given the number of patients that Planned Parenthood aids — it operates 661 health centers that provide services to 2.5 million women and men annually — many public health experts say community clinics would be unable to absorb those who lose Planned Parenthood’s care.” [CBS News, 2/6/17]

Planned Parenthood: In FY13, There Were “16,472 Health Care Visits Provided For Women, Men And Teens” By Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast. According to a Planned Parenthood fact sheet, “For nearly 80 years Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast has been providing high quality, affordable health care to women and men across Greater Houston and in Louisiana. […] In FY13, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast provided the following preventive health care and education to our community: 16,472 health care visits provided for women, men and teens.” [PlannedParenthood.org, accessed 8/4/15]

Guttmacher Institute: “36 Percent Of All People Who Get Care From A Publicly Funded Family Planning Center Go To Planned Parenthood.” According to Bloomberg Politics, “Nationally, 36 percent of all people who get care from a publicly funded family planning center go to Planned Parenthood, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which studies reproduction issues. States typically haven’t been successful in removing Planned Parenthood from their Medicaid programs in the past, losing in court, said Elizabeth Nash, senior state issues advocate at the institute.” [Bloomberg Politics, 8/3/15]

CBS: “The Government Accountability Office (GAO) Estimates That 390,000 Women Would Lose Access” To Preventative Care “If Congress Blocked Medicaid Patients From Planned Parenthood.” According to CBS News, “The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that 390,000 women would lose access and up to 650,000 would face reduced preventive care within a year if Congress blocked Medicaid patients from Planned Parenthood.” [CBS News, 2/6/17]

It Is “Unrealistic” That Other Health Care Providers Could Absorb Planned Parenthood’s Patients

Planned Parenthood Action Fund Executive Vice President Dawn Laguens: It Is “Unrealistic” That Other Health Care Providers Could Absorb Planned Parenthood’s Patients. According to Politico, “The clinics do provide preventive health services, such as breast and cervical cancer screenings, as well as testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases. Planned Parenthood Action Fund Executive Vice President Dawn Laguens said GOP-led efforts to defund its clinics would ‘block millions from getting basic health care’ and it’s unrealistic to suggest other health providers could absorb that work.” [Politico, 8/3/15]

U.S. News & World Report: “It’s Not Clear Other Providers Would Be Able To Pick Up The Slack” If Planned Parenthood Were To Be Defunded. According to U.S. News and World Report, “Federally supported health centers served some 21.7 million people in 2013, according to the National Association of Community Health Centers, about 12 percent of whom – 2.7 million – who go to a Planned Parenthood clinic each year. But the Guttmacher institute found that 36 percent of all patients who obtained reproductive health services at publicly funded health centers chose Planned Parenthood. While it’s difficult to quantify, it’s not clear other providers would be able to pick up the slack if Planned Parenthood were unable to meet their current demand because of loss of funds. ‘Community health centers are tremendous and do an incredible job serving communities,’ says Susan Berke Fogel, the director of reproductive health at the National Health Law Program, but ‘many community health centers are already way over capacity.’” [U.S. News and World Report, 8/4/15]

• U.S. News: Other Health Care Centers Also “Aren’t Prepared […]To Provide The Services Covered By Planned Parenthood.” According to U.S. News and World Report, “‘Community health centers are tremendous and do an incredible job serving communities,’ says Susan Berke Fogel, the director of reproductive health at the National Health Law Program, but ‘many community health centers are already way over capacity.’ Not only that, Fogel says, but many simply aren’t prepared to step in to provide the services covered by Planned Parenthood. ‘Some provide a full range of services, yes, but some partner with Planned Parenthood or other clinics that are experts in reproductive health, that know how to ask the right questions,’ she says. ‘And then there are some community centers that are affiliated with Catholic Hospitals’ that don’t provide family planning services at all, she says.” [U.S. News and World Report, 8/4/15]

Republican Senator Susan Collins: “I Don’t Know How You Would Ensure That All Of The Patients Of Planned Parenthood Could Be Absorbed By Alternative Care Providers.” According to The Hill, “Even members of [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell’s party have their doubts that community health centers and other public health groups could fill the gap. ‘The problem is, in my state and many others, Planned Parenthood is the primary provider of women’s health services in certain parts of my state,’ said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who said she is likely to vote against the bill. ‘So I don’t know how you would ensure that all of the patients of Planned Parenthood could be absorbed by alternative care providers.’ Planned Parenthood’s federal funding covers a variety of health programs for women, including family planning services such as birth control, and cancer screenings.” [The Hill, 8/1/15]

Kaiser Family Foundation Director Of Women’s Health Policy Alina Salganicoff: Other Health Clinics “Don’t Provide The Full Range Of Services.” According to The Hill, “Alina Salganicoff, director of women’s health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, added that community health centers often do not provide as full a range of contraceptive services as Planned Parenthood does, including long-lasting methods like intrauterine devices. ‘Some of them are at capacity, some of them also don’t provide the full range of services,’ she said, noting that the feasibility of finding alternative providers could depend on where women live.” [The Hill, 8/1/15]

Defunding Planned Parenthood Would Most Significantly Hurt Low-Income Women And Medicaid Recipients

Nearly Two-Thirds Of Planned Parenthood Patients Are Medicaid Recipients. According to Business Insider, “Nearly two-thirds of the organization’s patients rely on public programs like Medicaid to pay for their care. ‘Defunding’ the organization, (as many states have and now Congress proposes to do with the AHCA), means those patients, like Benner, would have to pay for health care out of pocket.” [Business Insider, 3/23/17]

Planned Parenthood “Is The Only Full-Service Reproductive Health Clinic” In 105 Counties. According to Business Insider, “In 105 counties across the US, Planned Parenthood is the only full-service reproductive health clinic.” [Business Insider, 3/23/17]

Over Half Of Planned Parenthood Health Centers Were Located “In Rural Or Medically Underserved Areas.” According to Business Insider, “Over half of Planned Parenthood’s 650 health centers are in rural or medically underserved areas with health professional shortages.” [Business Insider, 3/23/17]

Planned Parenthood Has Provided “Family Planning, Screening For Cancer And Sexually Transmitted Diseases, And Contraception” To Medicaid Recipients. According to Bloomberg Politics, “Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, a Republican candidate for president, is ending the state’s Medicaid agreement with Planned Parenthood. Jindal said he was terminating the contract because of videos circulated by an anti-abortion group. […] ‘This is an organization not worthy of receiving public assistance from the state,’ Jindal said in the news release. Medicaid is a joint state-federal health-care program for the poor. Under decades-old law, federal funds can’t be spent on abortions. Planned Parenthood provides family planning, screening for cancer and sexually transmitted diseases, and contraception in addition to terminating pregnancies. It’s been a target of conservative Republican politicians for years.” [Bloomberg Politics, 8/3/15]

Center For Reproductive Rights Senior Federal Policy Adviser Amy Friedrich-Karnik: “Lawmakers Are Really Going After Low-Income Women” By Defunding Planned Parenthood. According to CBS News, “It’s not realistic to expect donations alone to keep an organization as large and complex as Planned Parenthood going, according to Amy Friedrich-Karnik, senior federal policy adviser at the Center for Reproductive Rights. […]The defunding has the potential to hit rural areas and the economically vulnerable hardest, said Friedrick-Karnik. ‘It’s a flawed notion to think Planned Parenthood patients can go somewhere else,’ said Friedrich-Karnik. ‘It’s one thing for politicians to attack an organization, but lawmakers are really going after low-income women and their health care.’” [CBS News, 2/6/17]

CBS: “In Many Poor Areas,” Planned Parenthood “Is The Sole Option For Contraception And Screenings For Hypertension, Diabetes And Cancer.” According to CBS News, “Planned Parenthood gets some Title X grants to provide safety-net family planning for millions of Americans. In 21 percent of the counties where the group serves as the safety-net clinic, no other equivalent exists in the area, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization devoted to reproductive health rights. In many poor areas, the organization is the sole option for contraception and screenings for hypertension, diabetes and cancer.” [CBS News, 2/6/17]

Seventy-Five Percent Of Federal Funding For Planned Parenthood Comes In The Form Of Medicaid Reimbursements. According to Vox, “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 specific health services, like birth control or cervical cancer screening, for people who couldn’t afford them otherwise. Most of the funds (75 percent) are actually reimbursements from Medicaid, the US’s 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.” [Vox, 3/6/17]

About 60% Of Planned Parenthood Patients Receive Federally Subsidized Health Care. According to the Huffington Post, “Planned Parenthood is only reimbursed for the non-abortion health care services it provides to low-income women, including birth control, Pap smears, breast exams and STI tests, through Medicaid and the Title X family planning program. What the GOP’s plan would do is prevent Medicaid from working with Planned Parenthood. This would effectively block patients who rely on federally subsidized health care ― about 60 percent of Planned Parenthood’s 2.5 million patients ― from choosing Planned Parenthood for their health care.” [Huffington Post, 3/6/17]

Defunding Planned Parenthood “Could Have The Adverse Effect Of Actually Increasing Unintended Pregnancies – And Abortions”

U.S. News & World Report: Reproductive Rights Advocates Say “Eliminating Funding To Planned Parenthood […] Could Have The Adverse Effect Of Actually Increasing Unintended Pregnancies – And Abortions.” According to U.S. News and World Report, “Reproductive rights advocates say anti-abortion activists are willing to harm women’s access to other health services, in order to stop Planned Parenthood. […] Eliminating funding to Planned Parenthood, they say, would not only have the effect of making it more difficult for women to access non-abortion services, but that it could have the adverse effect of actually increasing unintended pregnancies – and abortions. A study from the Guttmacher Institute found that in 2013, 20 million women relied on publicly funded family planning services, 4.1 million of whom were served at Title X-supported clinics. Those services prevented approximately 1 million unplanned pregnancies and 345,000 abortions.” [U.S. News and World Report, 8/4/15]

In 2013, Services Provided At Title X-Supported Clinics “Prevented Approximately 1 Million Unplanned Pregnancies And 345,000 Abortions.” According to U.S. News and World Report, “A study from the Guttmacher Institute found that in 2013, 20 million women relied on publicly funded family planning services, 4.1 million of whom were served at Title X-supported clinics. Those services prevented approximately 1 million unplanned pregnancies and 345,000 abortions.” [U.S. News and World Report, 8/4/15]

National Partnership For Women And Families’ Sarah Lipton-Lubet: Defunding Planned Parenthood “Would Be Absolutely Catastrophic For Women’s Health.” According to U.S. News and World Report, “‘It would absolutely catastrophic for women’s health – that’s not an overstatement,’ says Sarah Lipton-Lubet, the director of reproductive health programs at the National Partnership for Women and Families, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that focuses on access to health care and reproductive rights. ‘There’s nothing about this legislation that’s actually about protecting or enhancing or even maintaining health care services for women,” she says. “It’s about playing politics with women’s health.’” [U.S. News and World Report, 8/4/15]

Washington Post Columnist Ruth Marcus: “Defunding Planned Parenthood Would Inevitably Result In More Unplanned Pregnancies And Therefore More Abortions.” According to an opinion by columnist Ruth Marcus for the Washington Post, “Consider: Defunding Planned Parenthood would inevitably result in more unplanned pregnancies and therefore more abortions, not fewer. In fact, if you really want to reduce the number of abortions, you should be lobbying to increase funding for Planned Parenthood and other organizations that provide birth control. […] Defunding Planned Parenthood would mean taking away money that it receives from the federal government for contraception and other essential services. Among low-income women who receive publicly supported contraceptive care at clinics, more than one-third use Planned Parenthood clinics, according to the Guttmacher Institute.” [Ruth Marcus – Washington Post, 7/31/15]

• Washington Post Columnist Ruth Marcus: “It Is No Answer To Breezily Suggest That Women Obtain Birth Control Elsewhere.” According to an opinion by columnist Ruth Marcus for the Washington Post, “Among low-income women who receive publicly supported contraceptive care at clinics, more than one-third use Planned Parenthood clinics, according to the Guttmacher Institute. It is no answer to breezily suggest that women obtain birth control elsewhere. The capacity to serve this population does not exist and won’t magically spring up overnight.” [Ruth Marcus – Washington Post, 7/31/15]

A Congressional Budget Office Report Found That Defunding Planned Parenthood “Would Be Expected To Lead To Additional Births, Increasing Federal Spending, Primarily For Medicaid.” According to Modern Healthcare, “The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office affirmed that view in an Aug. 3 report assessing federal legislation aimed at defunding Planned Parenthood. ‘Most of the Medicaid services that would have been obtained from Planned Parenthood Federation of America would instead be obtained from other health clinics and medical practitioners—but not all of them,’ according to the report. ‘Some of the services …include those that help women avert pregnancies and deliveries. Reduced use of such services would be expected to lead to additional births, increasing federal spending, primarily for Medicaid.’” [ModernHealthcare.com, 8/13/15]