Letter: Planned Parenthood gives women a choice

The right of people to choose their own medical provider is one of the reasons I support Planned Parenthood receiving Medicaid funds. Planned Parenthood receives taxpayer moneys for Medicaid services and Family Planning. Medicaid payments are not grants for funding. They are payment for services delivered. If people receiving Medicaid chose to go to other private providers for services, the Medicaid dollars would follow them. The fact that Medicaid dollars go to Planned Parenthood is because Medicaid recipients chose Planned Parenthood for care.

Family planning services decrease the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions. Federal money cannot be spent on abortion. Personally, I am against this law because I believe that women who are eligible for Medicaid should have the same right to an abortion as women with more economic resources. This is why I also support Iowa Abortion Access Fund which is a private charity for Iowa women who need financial help for an abortion.

Many private doctor offices and clinics either do not accept patients with Medicaid or limit their numbers for economic reasons. Planned Parenthood cannot be defunded without denying millions of women the right to choose the medical provider where they feel most comfortable and the place which accepts them as patients with Medicaid funding.

Judith Price

Cedar Rapids