Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this guest post are solely those of the author and are not necessarily reflective of Live Action or Live Action News.
After eight years of hostility toward the preborn under the Obama administration, the last four years were a breath of fresh air for pro-life Americans. Planned Parenthood chose to walk away from Title X funds in order to continue committing abortions due to a Trump administration rule change, and for the first time in history, a sitting U.S. President spoke at a pro-life march in Washington.
While the Biden Administration is working to roll back much of the progress pro-lifers have made over the last four years, we will persevere. Now more than ever, it is important to hold the line and stand for life. That’s why the first bill I introduced in the 117th Congress is a pro-life bill advocating for the preborn and their pregnant mothers in need.
The Women’s Public Health and Safety Act will ensure that states have the right to exclude abortion facilities from receiving their Medicaid dollars. This Act will empower states to end the bankrolling of abortion providers and free up funding for healthcare initiatives for those providers which put the wellbeing of women and babies first.
One of Planned Parenthood’s main funding streams is state Medicaid dollars, largely reimbursed using taxpayer dollars. According to its own report, in just one year, Planned Parenthood brought in over $600 million in taxpayer dollars, much of it from Medicaid. This funding supports the killing of over 300,000 preborn children each year at Planned Parenthood. This a tragic expenditure of human life, and is also fiscally and morally reckless.
READ: Yes, Planned Parenthood funding has increased. Medicaid is the reason.
Medicaid’s original 1965 charter was meant to provide safety net healthcare coverage for people in dire need. Abortion is not health care. It won’t be health care tomorrow and it wasn’t healthcare in 1965 when ending the life of a preborn baby was widely illegal.
Yet, taxpayer dollars through Medicaid are keeping America’s abortion giant in business. According to the Government Accountability Office, Planned Parenthood received $1.3 billion in Medicaid reimbursements over a three year period. This is a blow to the American taxpayer and a far cry from what Medicaid architects intended.
States have both the power and the moral responsibility to prioritize dollars toward actual healthcare providers instead of abortion facilities. The Women’s Public Health and Safety Act supports mothers in need, helps protects the lives of the preborn, and takes a huge step in getting taxpayer dollars out of the abortion industry. As firm believers in every American’s right to life, we must continue to fight for the preborn, and to uphold and promote pro-life policies.
Editor’s Note: According to an emailed press release on the Women’s Public Health and Safety Act, Rep. Michael Cloud (TX-27) and Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.) reintroduced the Act to the 117th Congress. In the 116th Congress, the bill had 35 cosponsors. Currently, the reintroduced bill has 71 cosponsors.
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