Cuts Targeting Abortion Hurt Women’s Health
When right-wing politicians and activists go after Planned Parenthood, which has been one of their favorite pastimes in recent years, they often say they are fighting against abortion.
That’s what Representative Mike Pence, the Indiana Republican, said when the House voted to kill all of Planned Parenthood’s federal funding. That’s the excuse Texas lawmakers gave when they slashed money for women’s health services—including of course grants for Planned Parenthood clinics—by two thirds. Texas is now planning to shut down a Medicaid program that serves 130,000 women—in the name of preventing Planned Parenthood from getting money for abortions.
These politicians are telling the truth about one thing: they don’t like Planned Parenthood.
But it’s simply not true that abortion is what’s at stake here—at least not primarily. The Hyde Amendment, which Congress has been tacking onto Medicaid spending bills for 36 years, already prohibits the spending of federal money on abortion services.