Speaker of the House Paul Ryan announced the fifth that defunding Planned Parenthood is part of the Republican agenda to dismantle Obamacare.
They argue that because Planned Parenthood provides abortions, they plan to zero out all federal funding for the organization. This stance appeals to many pro-life, conservative voters and has given the GOP traction for this issue. But what the GOP is not telling supporters is that the Hyde Amendment, established in 2013, makes it so “federal funds cannot be used for abortion services, and plans receiving federal funds must keep them segregated from any funds for abortion services.”
Even with knowledge about the Hyde Amendment, there are still voters who wish to defund Planned Parenthood because they do not want their taxpayer dollars going to an organization affiliated with abortions. They suggest re-allocating the federal money to community health centers that provide comprehensive health care.
While this may seem like a viable solution for many voters, it is not necessarily a practical one.
Republicans will face two major problems in their efforts to repeal the bill. For one, permanently making Planned Parenthood ineligible for federal funds would end up costing the government about $130 million over the span of 10 years. Without access to affordable contraception, less women will use birth control, causing more pregnancies to occur. Texas faced this issue when it barred Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funding back in 2013. In response, the New England Journal of Medicine published an article revealing the direct relationship between defunding Planned Parenthood, the reduced rate of women’s use of contraception, and increased rates of childbirth in Texas. Reports from the Texas Department of State Health Services indicated an increase of about 1,000 abortions from 2012 to 2013. If the GOP is successful in their revision, we may face the same outcomes that Texas did, but on a national level. A Congressional Budget Office report reminds us that “about 45 percent of all births are paid for by the Medicaid program.” That means that instead of taxpayers’ dollars being used to prevent abortions and unwanted pregnancies, a higher percentage of funds would be re-allocated to facilities unattainable to many low-income women.
The second issue Republicans will face is that there are a few Republican senators, such as Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, who have expressed concern with the repeal. Implementing the repeal process would require 51 out of the 52 votes the Republican Party currently has. Only three Republicans would be needed to impend the passage of the repeal.
This issue should not be a matter of partisanship, yet has become a debate between the parties. Providing women with adequate, convenient healthcare should be a concern for every individual. Men have affordable, available access to condoms, yet there is still a debate as to whether women should have similar opportunities to contraception.
With the largest percentage of funding for Planned Parenthood being federal, the organization relies on such funds to operate. While the media may fail to sufficiently construe what Planned Parenthood does with such funds, it should be noted that the organization is much more than abortions and birth control. The funding Planned Parenthood receives allows the organization to pay for cancer screenings, annual exams, family planning, sex education, and birth control. By being the largest provider of birth control, the organization is also the largest preventer of abortions.
In addition, many hospitals that perform abortions also receive federal reimbursement for visits, treatments, and procedures unaffiliated with abortions, like Planned Parenthood. If the GOP plans to defund Planned Parenthood based off of this reasoning, some would argue that they hospitals should lose their funding as well.
Even Paul Ryan’s tweetthe morning of the seventh was a bit misleading. “Everything #Obamacare has kept from you—more choices, control, and freedom—we want to put them back in your hands.” Defunding Planned Parenthood would not give women more freedom, control or choices regarding their healthcare. Frankly, it would do the opposite: severely limit the access to basic women’s health.
