House Republicans finally unveiled details of their plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Unsurprisingly, one of the glaring differences between the current healthcare system and what Republicans want in their anti-women dystopia is how Planned Parenthood gets funded…or rather unfunded.
Two House committees proposed their versions of what the ACA would be replaced with, and they both want to prevent Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid reimbursements. The proposal is an effort to appease anti-abortion activists who claim they’re pro-life when in reality they just want to defund clinics that help save lives.
The frustrating part about all of this is that conservatives seem to have a difficult time understanding that taxpayer money is already barred from going toward abortion. In fact, there’s a federal law called the Hyde Amendment that prevents the allocation of certain federal funds for abortion services unless the pregnancy puts the woman’s life in danger, or she’s the victim of rape or incest.
For all you “family values” zealots out there, did you know Congressman Henry Hyde, who sponsored the Amendment, was actually a huge fan of women? In fact, he loved women so much he had an extramarital affair for four years. That didn’t stop him from hypocritically spearheading the impeachment of Bill Clinton for his affairs though.
Anyway, the Hyde Amendment passed in 1976 and conservatives still fail to realize it exists.
The Medicaid money that right-wingers want to snatch away from Planned Parenthood actually goes toward critical preventative care and treatments for the disadvantaged. So if pro-life activists are genuine in wanting to preserve human lives, waging a war against clinics that help low-income men and women isn’t the way to go.
Some of the general health care offered by Planned Parenthood include physical exams, flu and tetanus vaccines, cancer, cholesterol, STD and diabetes screenings, and even help if you want to quit smoking. In other words, clinics like Planned Parenthood provide primary care for millions of Americans, 75 percent of whom are either at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level.
Defunding Planned Parenthood will do serious damage to the well-being of those who are already at a disadvantage. It’s laughable to claim the pro-life label while simultaneously putting people’s lives at risk because you’re too stubborn to acknowledge that Medicaid doesn’t fund abortions.
