Senate republicans revealed their new healthcare bill, and it looks to defund Planned Parenthood for one year.
The new bill, which was drafted in secret, is meant to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The bill will block Medicaid reimbursements that provide healthcare and abortion services at Planned Parenthood, which the nation’s largest provider of women’s healthcare and abortion services.
“If this is the Senate’s idea of a bill with heart, then the women of America should have fear struck in theirs,“ Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said in a statement.
”Slashing Medicaid and blocking millions of women from getting preventive care at Planned Parenthood is beyond heartless. One in five women in this country rely on Planned Parenthood for care. They will not stay silent as politicians vote to take away their care and their rights.”
The bill doesn’t specify Planned Parenthood, but its target is clear. The bill would bar states from channeling federal Medicaid funding to any healthcare provider that provides abortions. Upon review, the House health care bill, which includes identical language on Medicaid funding and abortions as the Senate bill, indicates that “only Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its affiliates and clinics would be affected” by the provision, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) assessment of the House health care bill.
Eitherway, this does not bode well for women’s reproductive and healthcare rights.