Planned Parenthood has helped thousands of women over the years. This year, Vice President Mike Pence made sure that the organization was defunded. He and his anti-choice cohorts have been trying to defund Planned Parenthood since those faked tapes came out in 2015. They tried to say that the organization sells baby parts.
Iowa has become one of the latest states to completely defund the organization. One resident and Planned Parenthood patient, Phoebe, says:
“Iowa just flipped to being a completely different state from what I remember. When the governor signed the bill to defund Planned Parenthood, we had to focus on that.”
One Senator behind the defunding said Iowa state Sen. Jason Schultz in February of his state’s Planned Parenthood defunding:
“President Trump ran on this issue. I’ve heard him speak about it. The crowds of 10,000, 20,000 would cheer. This is going to be a good move for Iowa, to be one step ahead of what’s happening as a nationwide trend…a tide coming in that’s moving in one direction.”
Dr. Hal Lawrence, an OB/GYN and the executive vice president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said:
“Planned Parenthood sees over 2.3 million patients a year. They provide a lot of the ongoing contraception and reproductive health care for a lot of women, especially women in rural areas. If they lost their Medicaid dollars, it would be dramatic, and sadly, it’d be catastrophic.”
In May, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad rejected $3 million in Medicaid funding that would’ve gone toward Planned Parenthood funding. That money already can’t go toward abortions. As a result, 4 out of 12 of Iowa’s Planned Parenthood clinics have been closed. The bottom third of the state has been left without a Planned Parenthood.
Iowa Conservatives claim that there will still be plenty of options for women, but Planned Parenthood provides lots of affordable treatment for many women.
Featured image via Twitter.
