Democrats Vow to Fight Planned Parenthood Defunding

Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan announced that the upcoming bill to overturn Obamacare will also defund Planned Parenthood.

“Today’s commitment by Speaker Ryan to re-direct the abortion giant’s taxpayer funding to community health centers is a victory for women’s health care”, she said in a statement, The Washington Times reports.

“There’s a group of House Republicans led by (Rep.) Charlie Dent (R-PA) who are opposed to the defunding of Planned Parenthood in the bill, and I hope they’ll be successful in separating the two issues or knocking it out all together”, Collins told reporters Thursday.

“This is a very important occasion where we’re pointing out very specifically what repeal of [the Affordable Care Act] would mean to woman”, Pelosi added. “They can not afford to have access to basic reproductive healthcare taken away”.

Planned Parenthood argues that its abortion services are paid for with private money while critics contend that the public funds for other services end up subsidizing the group’s overall operations. Hogue also cited “reports” saying “that Trump voters are surprised to hear their healthcare might be taken away and that Planned Parenthood might be defunded”.

The Panel’s investigation indicates that StemExpress and Planned Parenthood Mar Monte (PPMM), Planned Parenthood Shasta Pacific (PPSP), and Family Planning Specialists Medical Group (FPS) committed systematic violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule from about 2010 to 2015. Because reconciliation bills only require a simple majority in the Senate to pass, Democrats don’t have much leverage unless they can convince Republicans to vote against their leaders.

Planned Parenthood officials reacted angrily to the news by urging supporters to defend the agency’s need for federal funding by sending letters to members of Congress, by volunteering for Planned Parenthood, attending marches and rallies, and even calling on their senators.

The plan, in general, would prevent Medicaid users from seeking services at Planned Parenthood. According to NPR, Planned Parenthood uses the majority of its federal funding to provide services such as screening for and treating sexually transmitted infections, as well as providing contraception.

Planned Parenthood health centers serve 2.5 million people each year, almost two-thirds of whom rely on public programs like Medicaid to pay for their care. The House and the Senate came close to defunding Planned Parenthood in 2016, but President Barack Obama vetoed the measure. Of the almost 9.5 million services Planned Parenthood provided in 2014, 4.2 million (45 percent) of those services were related to testing and treating sexually transmitted infections.