Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA)
Gov. Bobby Jindal is fighting to defund Planned Parenthood in his state of Louisiana, and his administration doesn't much care about the facts in that fight. Seeking to prove that there would still be plenty of family planning services available for low-income Louisiana women, Jindal's administration gave a federal judge
a list of 2,000 healthcare providers that could supposedly fill the gap. But, Molly Redden reports:
"It strikes me as extremely odd that you have a dermatologist, an audiologist, a dentist who are billing for family planning services," said the judge, John deGravelles, who will determine in the next week whether it is legal for the state to end Planned Parenthood's Medicaid contracts. "But that is what you're representing to the court? You're telling me that they can provide family planning and related services?"
His harsh questioning sent the state back to the drawing board. On Tuesday, the state's attorneys acknowledged that the dentists and other specialists didn't belong on the list. They filed a pared-down version that lists just 29 health care providers.
There's a small difference between 29 and 2,000, just like there's a small difference between a gynecologist and a dentist. Oh, and by the way, 29 providers on the list doesn't actually mean there are 29 places in Louisiana low-income women could go for family planning:
In Baton Rouge, the site of one of two Louisiana Planned Parenthood clinics, the state lists five alternate providers. But only three of those offer contraception, according to the state's filing, and two of those have wait times ranging from two to seven weeks. One of the Baton Rouge clinics the state suggested is not accepting any new patients for STI, breast cancer, or cervical cancer screenings.
Jindal's administration doesn't care about the facts and it doesn't care about health care for low-income women. This is all about a partisan attack on Planned Parenthood—and one conveniently timed to help Bobby Jindal's presidential campaign. (Which is beyond help, but apparently he hasn't clued into that yet.)