Republican efforts in Congress to cut funding for Planned Parenthood would diminish health care in this country, would be most damaging to middle-class and poor patients and, most disturbingly, are largely fueled by false accusations against the organization.
In recently passing a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the House of Representatives added an item that would cut federal funding for Planned Parenthood. This would be done largely by preventing Medicaid dollars from being spent at the organization’s 650 health centers across the United States.
Planned Parenthood long has been a target of conservatives because it provides abortion services. It is illegal, however, for federal money to pay for those abortions, and Planned Parenthood officials have said that 3 percent of the services they provide are related to abortion. The rest involve preventing unwanted pregnancies, reproductive health care, mammograms, education, HIV screening, and other items related to sexual health.
Nationally, Planned Parenthood sees an estimated 2.5 million patients a year — the organization’s website lists one clinic in Vancouver — and many of those patients are low-income residents who are dependent upon Medicaid. Preventing them from visiting a clinic, which in rural areas often is the only option, would severely cripple access to health care.
Republican efforts against Planned Parenthood have much to do with an ideologically driven crusade against abortion, the legality of which has been established and reinforced numerous times by the U.S. Supreme Court. That crusade gained steam in 2015 with the release of undercover videos that purported to show Planned Parenthood representatives selling parts from aborted babies. The videos were found to have been doctored in a misleading fashion, and investigations in several states found no illegal activity by the clinics.
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson wrote to state lawmakers who had requested a review: “My office found no evidence to support these allegations or to indicate that Planned Parenthood is violating any state or federal law in the way it handles fetal tissue or performs abortions.” In this state, one of the 32 Planned Parenthood clinics donates fetal tissue, and that tissue goes to the Birth Defects Research Laboratory at the University of Washington with the consent of the donor. That clinic receives payment to cover its expenses.
Efforts to defund Planned Parenthood are petty and punitive. In a report last year, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that 390,000 people served by the organization would lose access to health care in the first year following defunding. While other health care providers eventually would pick up some of that slack, an expected increase in unwanted pregnancies also would raise the price tag for Medicaid.
In short, the persistent congressional attacks upon Planned Parenthood for providing a legal service are a classic example of abortion foes cutting off their nose to spite their face. The action would not improve health care, it would not save money, and it certainly would not end abortion in this country.
Opposition to abortion is a position deserving of respect. We can empathize with those who consider it a moral imperative. But rather than reduce health care for a large segment of people, the issue must be attacked through efforts to change the hearts and minds of those who support legalized abortion.
Generating public support to change the law should be the focus of opponents, not taking away health services that have nothing to do with abortion.
