As the federal government works on making reproductive health care and abortion more accessible, Republican lawmakers are doing all they can to limit access. Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert introduced her first bill of the 118th Congress Friday, the Defund Planned Parenthood Act, in an attempt to diminish abortion rights failing to realize that other care is also given. The act, which is highly unlikely to pass, would prohibit federal tax dollars from going to Planned Parenthood.
According to the bill text, if turned into law, about $235 million would be redirected to other community health centers that provide women’s health care services. So while Boebert wants to wage a war on Planned Parenthood and cut its funding, she wants to redirect those funds to other women’s services. Seeing that Planned Parenthood provides not only abortion services but HIV screening, pelvic exams, Pap tests, cancer screenings, and testing and treatment for vaginal infections, Boebert wanting to cut their funding but provide it to others makes no sense except for the fact that she is properly aiming to push the funding to “pro-life” places that will convince women to conceive.
“The nation’s largest abortion provider has no business receiving taxpayer dollars,” Boebert said in a press release. “Instead of funding Planned Parenthood, my bill will redirect this funding to community health centers that actually meet the health needs of women across the country.”
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According to the bill, funding for Planned Parenthood affiliates will only be available if they certify they will not provide funding for abortion.
“We are not surprised that Boebert continues to sow chaos and dysfunction in Congress instead of focusing on affordable health care for her constituents,” Jack Teter, political director at Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, told Colorado News Line.
“Planned Parenthood is the proud primary care provider for thousands of people in Boebert’s district. We will continue caring for our patients — those who live in Colorado, and those who travel here from across the country to access the health care they need — and will not be distracted by this attention-seeking political stunt from someone who has never passed a single bill while in office.“
The bill is supported by the organizations like Students for Life of America, the National Right to Life Committee, Heritage Action, and Concerned Women for America. The bill is one of several introduced this week alone by GOP lawmakers. Minnesota Rep. Michelle Fischbach also introduced similar legislation on Thursday, which would require Planned Parenthood to "certify that they will not perform or support entities that perform abortions" to maintain federal funding, according to a press release from her office.
Boebert’s bill also doesn’t make sense because of the Hyde Amendment. According to the Hyde Amendment, federal funds cannot be used to pay for abortions under most circumstances. So essentially, Boebert declaring a war on Planned Parenthood under claims that funding is being used for abortions is just another tactic to rally conservatives who don’t know about policy and law—unless she herself also doesn’t know, which is possible.
According to a report by the Congressional Research Service:
Congress enacted the Hyde Amendment, which blocks federal funds from being used to pay for abortion outside of the exceptions for rape, incest, or if the pregnancy is determined to endanger the woman’s life, resulting in dramatically limited coverage of abortion under Medicaid and other federal programs.
Of course, this is not the only reason Boebert is in the news right now. Joining her BFF Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Boebert, too, is being blasted on Twitter for comments she has made.
Twitter users came for Boebert after she claimed teachers didn’t declare whether they were married before LBGTQ movements. She also still doesn’t seem to understand that all people have used pronouns since language became a thing. The comment came in defense of Florida’s Don’t Say Gay law, which prohibits K-3 teachers from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity with their students.
“Growing up, I don’t recall teachers announcing their marital status & pronouns to everyone,” Boebert tweeted. “They’re there to educate. How is this still a complaint of the Left?”
The comment received heavy backlash because pronouns and knowing a teacher's marriage status have always been common. Twitter users questioned where she went to school and how much attention she paid. I mean, what does she think Mr., Ms., and Mrs. refer to? Pronouns include “she” and “he;” this is not complicated.