{"id":34850,"date":"2018-01-22T07:01:27","date_gmt":"2018-01-22T11:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?p=34850"},"modified":"2018-01-22T07:01:27","modified_gmt":"2018-01-22T11:01:27","slug":"states-may-block-planned-parenthood-funding-to-protect-medicaid-programs-and-their-beneficiaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2018\/01\/states-may-block-planned-parenthood-funding-to-protect-medicaid-programs-and-their-beneficiaries.html","title":{"rendered":"States May Block Planned Parenthood Funding “to Protect Medicaid Programs and Their Beneficiaries”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I\u2019ve been so pleased with some of Christianity Today<\/em>\u2018s coverage of sexual abuse allegations against church figures<\/a> in recent months that I sometimes need reminding of how backwards the evangelical publication\u2019s\u00a0positions are in other areas.<\/p>\n

Take this article<\/a>, for instance:<\/p>\n

The Trump administration continued to move toward pro-life policies and against Planned Parenthood with further guidance issued today by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Just what is this move toward pro-life policies?<\/p>\n

\n

The department has\u00a0rescinded<\/a>\u00a0an Obama administration memo warning states against blocking Medicaid funding for providers that offered abortion. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) now consider that 2016 letter to have overstepped federal regulations; they have restored their position to allow states to regulate their programs within reasonable standards.<\/p>\n

While federal funds cannot be used for abortions, Planned Parenthood\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0that half of its patients use Medicaid to cover other services like birth control.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Just so we\u2019re clear, then, this is about birth control<\/em>. This is about limiting low income women\u2019s access to birth control, full stop. For many low income women, Planned Parenthood is the most convenient way to get birth control\u2014they don\u2019t have to have a doctor or a regular physical, etc., all they have to do is make an appointment at Planned Parenthood. It increases access.<\/p>\n

Contrary to the assumptions on display at right-wing news sites, women cannot just walk into a pharmacy and by the pill. They have to get a prescription from a doctor first. Planned Parenthood offers them a simple, streamlined way to see a medical provider\u00a0and get a prescription. This, remember, is how Planned Parenthood got its start\u2014providing access to birth control.<\/p>\n

And yet, listen to how Charmaine Yoest, a\u00a0Trump-appointed HHS official,\u00a0describes\u00a0the change:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cReinstating the pre-2016 standards frees up states to once again decide for themselves what reasonable standards they use to protect Medicaid programs and their beneficiaries,\u201d said Charmaine Yoest, assistant HHS secretary for public affairs and former Americans United for Life president, according to\u00a0The Hill<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

To protect Medicaid\u00a0programs<\/em>. What does that mean? No, really\u2014in what way is giving recipients access to birth control at facilities that also offer abortions\u00a0a threat to a state\u2019s\u00a0Medicaid program? Has it ever been framed as such? Literally no one wants to ban Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds because they care about Medicaid.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the other half of that statement\u2014to protect Medicaid beneficiaries<\/em>. Does\u00a0Yoest really think she can convince us\u00a0that states like Texas want to\u00a0ban Medicaid\u00a0beneficiaries from receiving birth control at Planned Parenthood\u00a0to\u00a0protect<\/em>\u00a0them? Protect them from what?<\/em> What kind of patronizing nonsense is<\/em> this?<\/p>\n

As if that wasn\u2019t enough,\u00a0Yoest adds the following statement:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThis is part of the Trump administration\u2019s effort to roll back regulations the Obama administration put out to radically favor abortion.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019m sorry but no. Neutrality is not favoring abortion. All Obama said is that states could not use their Medicaid funding to cut Planned Parenthood out of the same reimbursements for birth control and other non-abortion services that other healthcare providers receive. That is not radically favoring abortion<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Christianity Today<\/em> article outlining these changes does\u00a0not call out Yoest\u2019s disingenuous rhetoric. It does not call out the fact that the issue in play is birth control access, not abortion access. It does not mention the inverse relationship between access to birth control and demand for abortions. Instead, it refers to this change as a \u201cmove toward pro-life policies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The magazine may have improved its handling of sexual assault allegations, but its treatment of life issues is business as usual. In fact, a recent article published under the title In Defense of Pro-Life \u2018Hypocrisy\u2019<\/a>\u00a0declared that \u201cpro-lifers ought to exercise caution about packaging abortion into proposals for a \u2018consistent ethic of life\u2019 because \u201cthe case against abortion rests upon the innocence of the child in the womb\u201d while \u201ccapital punishment\u00a0\u2026\u00a0brings guilt into the equation.\u201d<\/p>\n

After\u00a0acknowledging that \u201careas like health care, welfare, and maternity leave\u201d might weigh on a woman making a decision about an unplanned pregnancy, the article concluded that \u201cit\u2019s folly to imagine we can police hypocrisy by announcing the \u2018pro-life\u2019 position on everything under the sun\u2014much less by shaming everyone who will not get with the program.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s some line in the sand right there.<\/p>\n

I have a <\/b>Patreon<\/b><\/a>! Please support my writing!<\/b><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To protect Medicaid programs. What does that mean? No, really—in what way is giving recipients access to birth control at facilities that also offer abortions a threat to a state’s Medicaid program? Has it ever been framed as such? Literally no one wants to ban Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds because they care about Medicaid. <\/p>\n

Click through to read more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":34852,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,11],"tags":[104,119,547],"class_list":["post-34850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-evangelicalism-fundamentalism","category-politics","tag-abortion-2","tag-birth-control","tag-planned-parenthood"],"yoast_head":"\nStates May Block Planned Parenthood Funding "to Protect Medicaid Programs and Their Beneficiaries"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Literally no one wants to ban Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds because they care about Medicaid.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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