Emotions ran high on Capitol Hill Wednesday as anti-abortion and abortion rights advocates squared off over allegations that Planned Parenthood violated late-term abortion laws.
With conservative lawmakers threatening to shut down the government over the issue, lost in the debate was how defunding an organization founded 99 years ago would leave many areas of the country without reproductive and other health services mostly used by women.
A House Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday morning featured anti-abortion speakers and one abortion rights advocate. Nobody from Planned Parenthood was invited to speak.
Democrats called the hearing a “waste of time.” A Planned Parenthood official said in a statement it was just a chance for “extremists” to promote a ban on abortion.
The organization has been in the national spotlight since an anti-abortion group released surreptitiously recorded videos showing staff members candidly discussing fetal tissue donation. Planned Parenthood said the videos were heavily edited and an analysis it commissioned by experts showed the changes distorted and misrepresented actual events.
Congress has until the end of this month to extend federal funding into the next fiscal year. Failure to pass at least a continuing resolution would result in a government shutdown.
More than two dozen of the most conservative Republicans in the House have pledged to oppose any budget deal that does not strip Planned Parenthood of its $500 million in federal funding. Presidential candidates Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) are pledging to lead a similar effort in the upper chamber.
That's put GOP leaders in both chambers in a tough position. Neither House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) nor Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have the votes to overturn an assured presidential veto of a continuing resolution containing such language. They are also eyeing poll numbers that show nearly 70% of Americans do not want to see a shutdown forced over Planned Parenthood funding.
Less than half of Planned Parenthood's annual budget of $1.3 billion comes from government sources. Private contributions make up about 30% with most of the rest coming from nongovernment reimbursement, according to the organization's annual report.
A report by the Guttmacher Institute published in Health Affairs on Tuesday found that many women rely on Planned Parenthood, particularly in rural areas, for important reproductive health services. Many clinics across the country would probably be unable to make up for the loss if Planned Parenthood were defunded.
In 2010, 36% of the 6.7 million U.S. women receiving contraceptive care from safety-net family planning health centers were served by Planned Parenthood, according to the Guttmacher report. And there are some areas where women rely particularly heavily on Planned Parenthood: In 18 states, its health centers serve more than 40% of women obtaining contraceptive care from a safety-net family planning health center. In 11 of those 18 states, Planned Parenthood serves more than half the women obtaining contraceptive care from a safety-net health center.
“Our analysis shows unequivocally that Planned Parenthood plays a major role in delivering publicly supported contraceptive services and supplies to women who are in need of such care nationwide,” the authors wrote.
The report, which was requested by the Congressional Budget Office, also showed that Planned Parenthood centers were more accessible than other clinics and were sometimes the only option women had for obtaining contraceptives.
In a statement, Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said the law already prohibits any federal funds from being spent on abortion except in extreme circumstances. Defunding the organization would primarily lead to limiting access to cancer screenings, sexually transmitted disease testing, well-woman checkups and family planning services.
Funding cuts at clinics in Texas have already resulted in fewer women getting basic reproductive healthcare, the group said. After one of its clinics was forced to shut down in Indiana, the state has been grappling with a surge in HIV cases, according to Planned Parenthood.
“It's outrageous, not to mention wildly unpopular, that politicians are using this widely discredited attack against Planned Parenthood to push through legislation rolling back women's access to healthcare,” Laguens said.
Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) filed a bill Tuesday that would stop all Title X family planning grants to Planned Parenthood. That would cut about $60 million of the organization's funding.
A government shutdown would not immediately cause a financial crisis for Planned Parenthood. It would continue to be reimbursed by Medicaid, because that is an appropriated entitlement program and money for the first quarter of fiscal 2016 has already been appropriated, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service.
