Blocking Planned Parenthood From Medicaid Will Only Worsen the US Maternal Health Crisis

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the men tasked with leading President Trump’s new Office of Government Efficiency, recently pledged to strip federal funding from “progressive organizations like Planned Parenthood.” This may seem like one of the consequences of the election. This means that the group or movement will no longer be supported by the new government. However, their reference to defunding the family planning system is misleading. This statement points out that abortions are not performed in states even though they are widely paid for with federal funds, and that family planning clinics are the sole beneficiaries of federal programs, yet federal has inspired a long-standing campaign to argue that this is not the case.

At the same time, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments about whether South Carolina can strip its family planning system from Medicaid coverage for services unrelated to abortion. In fact, in 2023, South Carolina banned abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, except in limited circumstances.

Stripping federal funding from family planning clinics is discriminatory because it treats them differently than other organizations that provide the same services. More urgently, there is a risk that health services will be unavailable to those who need them most. For the most part, this country treats health care not as a right, but as a privilege available only to those who can afford it. Cutting funding to clinics that provide a range of care, from contraceptives to prenatal care, will deepen these disparities. The damage to reproductive health care for low-income Americans is already evident in states that block family planning programs from participating in Medicaid.

South Carolina has been trying to exclude family planning from Medicaid since 2018, long before the Supreme Court overturned it. Roe v. Wade. Riding on a wave of defunding frenzy that began several years ago, South Carolina’s governor has ruled that abortion clinics are “ineligible” to receive reproductive health coverage through Medicaid. One outcome of the upcoming Supreme Court case is that South Carolina, along with Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi and other states, aims to limit access to reproductive health care at family planning clinics. may be able to block Medicaid claims for services such as cancer screenings. , contraception, annual exams, infertility referrals, mental health support, sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment, adoption information, prenatal and postnatal services, and more.

Nationwide, 16 million women of reproductive age rely on Medicaid. In South Carolina, nearly 50% of mothers rely on this program. The organization estimates that one in five women in the United States visits a family planning clinic for medical care at least once. If states were allowed to prohibit family planning programs from participating in Medicaid, the immediate effect would be to close clinics or prevent new facilities from opening, and the health care providers that serve clinics. people will have to retreat. Long-term effects threaten people’s health and ability to grow and, in some cases, survive.

Defunding family planning programs limits access to contraceptives, which are increasingly essential to prevent unwanted pregnancies in states such as South Carolina, where abortion is largely illegal will be done. In late 2022, 50% of pregnancies in South Carolina were reported to be unintended. Longitudinal studies have shown that unintended pregnancies, even if they result in a healthy birth, can leave people with increased debt and stress, missed educational and employment opportunities, mental health problems, and concerns about caring for the children they are raising. It has been shown that this results in a decrease in These challenges may be alleviated through access to affordable contraception.

When people give birth, they face a catastrophic situation in prenatal and postnatal care, with services once provided by family planning systems limited or eliminated. Currently, much of the United States, particularly the South and Midwest, is a maternal healthcare desert. As these deserts expand, maternal morbidity and mortality – the proportion of women and children who develop health problems or die during (or after) childbirth – will increase. That’s not an exaggeration. Evidence of such a trend emerged in Texas after the state previously banned nearly all abortions. egg It was reversed. Although the number of births increased, mothers lacked medical care, and mothers and newborns paid the price.

Medicaid is an invaluable resource for low-income people, including pregnant women and children, who need preventive, time-sensitive health care. If a state like South Carolina can cut off service because its lawmakers don’t like the provider, it will put even more strain on an already strained system. And lawmakers may not stop at Planned Parenthood. Defunding family planning programs could embolden an administration that has signaled a willingness to treat health care as a luxury rather than a right, while allowing pro-life state legislators to implement policies to the contrary. There is sex.