Politifact recently attempted to debunk Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s statement that “innocent lives will be saved” through the state’s decision to remove abortion businesses from the state Medicaid program. However, Politifact missed the mark. Lives will absolutely be saved when the state is finally allowed to end Medicaid funding of businesses like Planned Parenthood.
Texas has been working to end the Medicaid funding of Planned Parenthood and abortion businesses for years, and the law was set to go into effect on February 4, 2021, after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the state could defund the abortion industry. But a new lawsuit was filed by Planned Parenthood on February 3, alleging that Medicaid patients needed more than the allotted 30 days to find a new health care provider.
Medicaid does fund abortion
Though Politifact claims that Medicaid is not directly linked to abortions in Texas, it relies on the Hyde Amendment to back up this claim. However, the Hyde Amendment prevents federal taxpayer dollars from funding abortions, not state, and the Texas Medicaid program is funded by both the federal and state governments. According to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, Texas currently allows state funding under Medicaid for abortion in cases of rape, incest, and risk to the life of the mother.
In addition, money is fungible, and any money flowing from the federal government to Planned Parenthood (or any abortion business) will directly affect the abortion corporation’s budget, freeing up other funds to support Planned Parenthood’s abortion agenda. When abortion visits are coded medically, they are broken down into all of the services that are a part of that abortion appointment: office visit, pregnancy test, sonogram, medication, etc. All of these abortion appointment services can be paid for using Medicaid funding, freeing up other sources of income to fund abortion.
READ: Yes, Planned Parenthood funding has increased. Medicaid is the reason.
Lives are saved by defunding Planned Parenthood
Politifact claims that defunding Planned Parenthood will harm women. However, Texas has hundreds of comprehensive health care centers throughout the state compared to just 40 Planned Parenthood locations. If Planned Parenthood is defunded, that funding (and those patients) can be shifted to the comprehensive community health care centers. The only one “harmed” by defunding Planned Parenthood is Planned Parenthood.
The Guttmacher Institute found that public funding of abortion increases the number of abortions that would have otherwise taken place. Allowing Medicaid to fund abortion or abortion businesses actually incentivizes these businesses to heavily market abortion to as many low-income women as possible.
“[W]hen you make abortion free [of cost to the client], you’re adding to that encouragement. You’re encouraging abortion when you make it free because, just in general, that’s a sales tactic, making something free,” pro-life activist Christina Bennett told a Congressional subcommittee regarding the Hyde Amendment. “If something is free you’re going to consider it regardless of what it is. If someone says, ‘Do you want this? It’s free.” You’re going to think, ‘Do I want this?’ So, for women who are already vulnerable, already under pressure to abort, it becomes this enticement.”
Of course, abortion may be free of cost to those using Medicaid, but someone is always paying; in this case, our Congressional representatives would be forcing all federal taxpayers to pay for abortion businesses to kill the preborn children of low-income women.
The Hyde Amendment, which President Biden wants to end, is estimated to save 60,000 lives a month from abortion and has saved 2.4 million lives since its inception in 1976. Texas is right to stop abortion businesses from receiving Medicaid funds, especially Planned Parenthood, which has been caught participating in Medicaid fraud. And if the Hyde Amendment ends and the federal government directly funds abortion through Medicaid, then Texas will be one step ahead of the pro-abortion federal government in its plan to save countless lives from abortion.
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