The War on Women continues and, right now, it’s not looking good. Iowa Republicans just succeeded in limiting women in the state’s access to reproductive choice in a dangerous measure that just became law last week. As a result, four Planned Parenthood clinics in the state will now close which serve over 15,000 patients. This law bypasses Medicaid funds and instead puts in place a family-planning program which does not allow low-income women the ability to use their insurance at any providers that offer abortion services. This is similar to measures that have been making their way through other state legislatures with the intent of punishing women. Missouri lawmakers passed a similar measure last week and have sent it to their governor for signing. What’s also telling is that this could be a preview of what’s to come should congressional Republicans get their way and defund Planned Parenthood under Trumpcare.
"What is happening in Iowa is what we could see across the country if Congress passes this dangerous law to defund Planned Parenthood," said Dr. Raegan McDonald-Mosley, chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, in a statement. "This is hardest on people who already face barriers to accessing health care—especially people of color, young people, people with low to moderate incomes, and people who live in rural areas."
What this really does is penalize poor women for being poor and not having access to quality health care. And of course those disproportionately impacted are women of color, rural women and young women. And let’s not forget the important piece of information that Republicans leave out of all the misinformation they spew about Planned Parenthood. The organization does not just serve women seeking abortions. Planned Parenthood also provides breast exams, cancer screenings, tests and treatments for sexually transmitted diseases. It serves both men and women. But because Republicans are like a dog with a bone when it comes to abortion, they’d rather endanger people’s lives (men and women) and take away access to reproductive health care and education than allow women access to abortions. In states where they’ve successfully done this, the impact has been clear: poor women suffered.
A number of other states have attempted to exclude abortion providers from their Medicaid programs, but only Texas has ever done so successfully, doing in 2011exactly what Iowa did last week. Texas' state-funded program promised to maintain the same level of care for patients without Planned Parenthood, through community health clinics, federally qualified health centers, and more. In reality, there was a significant drop in care for low-income patients: A number of clinics closed. Other health centers attempted to step in, but nearly 26,000 fewer women received reproductive health care.
This is a disaster. Since this is already poised to go into effect July 1, it looks like it’s a done deal. Perhaps future elections in Iowa offer opportunities to vote out these dangerous lawmakers who are intent on punishing women and men just because they oppose abortion. But most importantly, we must do everything we can to defeat Trumpcare immediately so this doesn’t become national law. Our lives depend on it.
