What The Hell America!

A key House panel on Wednesday advanced legislation that includes a provision aimed at cutting off Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood, a longtime goal of congressional Republicans. 

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which oversees health care as part of its wide-ranging portfolio, voted along party lines to approve its portion of congressional Republicans’ tax cut and spending bill, a cornerstone of President Donald Trump’s agenda. The health portion of the bill, which would also impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients, has drawn criticism and opposition from Democrats and abortion advocates. 

“You know the saying, ‘women and children first’? Well for Republicans, billionaires go first, and women and children go overboard,” Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington said in a Wednesday afternoon news conference. “That is essentially the principle that they are writing into their reconciliation bill right now.”

Planned Parenthood is one of the largest providers of family planning services to low-income patients. One in 10 Medicaid recipients aged 15-49 who received family planning services went to a Planned Parenthood clinic in 2021, according to KFF, a nonpartisan health policy, research and polling organization.  

Federal funds allocated through programs like Medicaid and Title IX are already prohibited from directly paying for abortions, except in limited cases. With the bill, congressional Republicans are seeking to bar clinics and providers that offer abortions from accepting Medicaid for the other family planning and reproductive health care services they provide. The language of the measure, while not addressing Planned Parenthood by name, is written as to apply only to the organization. 

“Make no mistake, Planned Parenthood is being targeted,” Alexis McGill Johnson, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, said at the news conference. “Just like any other health care provider, Planned Parenthood health centers get reimbursed by Medicaid for the care that they provide. This is nothing more than an attempt to end abortion in the United States, and they are willing to take away birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment and more to do it.”

Democrats attempted to block the provision in committee during a marathon 26-hour session of weighing and voting on amendments. On Wednesday morning, Rep. Lizzie Fletcher of Texas, a member of the Energy and Commerce panel, put forth an amendment to strike the measure from the bill.  

“Defunding Planned Parenthood is an assault on the health, freedom and dignity of women across this country,” Fletcher said, citing her home state, which has seen increased maternal mortality rates, as a “cautionary tale” of what happens when women’s health services are cut. 

Several Republican women on the committee spoke up in defense of the provision to cut off Planned Parenthood from Medicaid, which remained in the bill after members voted down several Democratic amendments to the health care section, including Fletcher’s.

“In this bill, we’re not saying we’re outlawing abortion,” said GOP Rep. Erin Houchin of Indiana. “We’re just saying that tax dollars shouldn’t pay for big abortion. But let’s be very clear: you can’t pour water into only one part of a bucket: the American taxpayers should not be subsidizing abortion, we should be focusing our efforts on maintaining the solvency of health care programs that support moms and babies at every stage of life.” 

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Some moderate House Republicans representing blue states have expressed unease at stripping Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood, and the bill as a whole faces opposition from hardline Republicans concerned about its impact on the deficit. The measure could also come under scrutiny when it reaches the Senate: when Republicans tried to include a similar provision in the first round of Trump tax cuts in 2017, the Senate parliamentarian ruled it violated upper-chamber procedural requirements.

“I think that this particular provision is going to run into procedural trouble,” House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark said at the Democratic Women’s Caucus’ Wednesday morning news conference.

“Not only is this attack on reproductive health, it is just a continuation of taking away health care from Americans, in particular American women, in order to pay for tax cuts for those who will have no problem paying any medical bill,” she added.