House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) announced Thursday, Jan. 5, that Republicans will move to strip all federal funding for Planned Parenthood as part of their process to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, known as “Obamacare.” Republicans argue that the agency shouldn’t get any federal money because it provides abortion services.
The vast majority of Planned Parenthood’s services revolve around women’s health care, including cancer screening, maternity care, and preventative care. The government provides approximately half of the women’s health care provider’s money — a little more than $500 million dollars per year — but that money does not go to fund abortions, complying with federal law that outlaws the federal funding of abortion.
Except in very restricted cases, the federal Hyde Amendment already bans federal dollars for abortions. The overwhelming majority of Planned Parenthood’s services involve testing for and treating sexually transmitted diseases, providing birth control, screening for breast cancer and offering other women’s health care. Defunding Planned Parenthood could limit access to affordable or free services such as:
- General health services
- STI testing
- Sex education
- Prenatal care
- Contraception
- Pap smears
- Mammograms
- Counseling services
- Sexual assault advocacy and support
- Vasectomies
- Colon, prostate, and testicular cancer screening
- Family planning services, including abortions
Advocating to defund Planned Parenthood could limit affordable health services for women with no insurance or who only have partial-insurance. Planned Parenthood patients don’t have a co-pay because services are subsidized through donations and government funding.
To see the potential outcome of defunding Planned Parenthood, lawmakers could examine what has happened in Texas when it began restricting funds in 2011. Apparently, according to an ABC News report, “some Texas patients had trouble finding alternate sources of family planning and women’s health, in part because other providers in their area had not previously been providing specialized family planning services and had to first get expensive, time-consuming training in those areas.”
During his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump defended the organization several times, saying it has done “very good work for women.” But he also said he would defund it “because of the abortion factor.” FactCheck.org has confirmed that Planned Parenthood’s assertion that abortions represent 3 percent of its services.
Some argue that the issue isn’t pro-life but pro-birth, suggesting that Republicans support birth but not poor mothers and needy children once they’re born. Sister Joan Chittister, O.S.B. calls the ‘pro-life’ movement hypocritical, saying:
“I do not believe that just because you’re opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don’t? Because you don’t want any tax money to go there. That’s not pro-life. That’s pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she’s not surprised the GOP is going after women’s reproductive rights as part of its Obamacare repeal in a news conference. “So I just would like to speak individually to women across America: This is about respect for you, for your judgment about your personal decisions in terms of your reproductive needs, the size and timing of your family, and the rest, not to be determined by the insurance company or by the Republican, ideological, right-wing caucus in the House of Representatives.”
Using the hashtag #MakeAmericaSickAgain and #IStandWithPP, the agency tweeted a series of reminders about the work they do. The concluded by asking supporters to call Speaker Ryan or whatever Republican congress people you know. They even included his phone number.
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House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) announced Thursday, Jan. 5, that Republicans will move to strip all federal funding for Planned Parenthood as part of their process to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, known as “Obamacare.” Republicans argue that the agency shouldn’t get any federal money because it provides abortion services.
The vast majority of Planned Parenthood’s services revolve around women’s health care, including cancer screening, maternity care, and preventative care. The government provides approximately half of the women’s health care provider’s money — a little more than $500 million dollars per year — but that money does not go to fund abortions, complying with federal law that outlaws the federal funding of abortion.
Except in very restricted cases, the federal Hyde Amendment already bans federal dollars for abortions. The overwhelming majority of Planned Parenthood’s services involve testing for and treating sexually transmitted diseases, providing birth control, screening for breast cancer and offering other women’s health care. Defunding Planned Parenthood could limit access to affordable or free services such as:
Advocating to defund Planned Parenthood could limit affordable health services for women with no insurance or who only have partial-insurance. Planned Parenthood patients don’t have a co-pay because services are subsidized through donations and government funding.
To see the potential outcome of defunding Planned Parenthood, lawmakers could examine what has happened in Texas when it began restricting funds in 2011. Apparently, according to an ABC News report, “some Texas patients had trouble finding alternate sources of family planning and women’s health, in part because other providers in their area had not previously been providing specialized family planning services and had to first get expensive, time-consuming training in those areas.”
During his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump defended the organization several times, saying it has done “very good work for women.” But he also said he would defund it “because of the abortion factor.” FactCheck.org has confirmed that Planned Parenthood’s assertion that abortions represent 3 percent of its services.
Some argue that the issue isn’t pro-life but pro-birth, suggesting that Republicans support birth but not poor mothers and needy children once they’re born. Sister Joan Chittister, O.S.B. calls the ‘pro-life’ movement hypocritical, saying:
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she’s not surprised the GOP is going after women’s reproductive rights as part of its Obamacare repeal in a news conference. “So I just would like to speak individually to women across America: This is about respect for you, for your judgment about your personal decisions in terms of your reproductive needs, the size and timing of your family, and the rest, not to be determined by the insurance company or by the Republican, ideological, right-wing caucus in the House of Representatives.”
Using the hashtag #MakeAmericaSickAgain and #IStandWithPP, the agency tweeted a series of reminders about the work they do. The concluded by asking supporters to call Speaker Ryan or whatever Republican congress people you know. They even included his phone number.