Missouri GOP Declines $8.3 Million So They Can Deny Planned Parenthood $400,000

The GOP works in odd ways. For example, they’ll flat-out refuse millions of dollars that could be used to help with healthcare so they can deny a family planning clinic a few thousand bucks.

Such is the case in the state of Missouri, where the GOP-controlled legislature has decided to say no to $8.3 million in federal funding for healthcare costs associated with women’s health care. But wait, it gets even more ridiculous when you realize that Missouri Republicans then decided they would pay for women’s healthcare out of the state’s general fund, even though that would increase the state’s deficit. Hey, at least Planned Parenthood will get the message!

The actions of Republicans in Missouri are part of a much larger problem with the GOP and women’s health. Republicans seem to think they are mandated by God to impose their own brand of morality on others in the name of doing the Lord’s work. They also feel that despite a ruling from the United States Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade saying women have a Constitutional right to abortion, they can impose as many restrictions as possible. Also, by law, taxpayer funds cannot be used by Planned Parenthood or any other provider for the purpose of abortion services.

Missouri state Senator Kurt Schaefer, who is the chairman of the appropriations committee, declared that Planned Parenthood can provide whatever services they wish, but he’d be damned if the taxpayers of Missouri would pay for it. This is willful ignorance on Senator Schaefer’s part because taxpayers have not been paying for controversial procedures such as abortion.

No doubt you’ve heard the expression “cutting off your nose to spite your face.” But when it comes to the GOP and women’s health, they’d just as soon cut off both arms and legs as a way of protesting the fact that everyone else has them.

Featured Image Via MSNBC Screengrab