Planned Parenthood offers needed care for women and men

By Jill June

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Iowans across the state may feel as though they're suffering from a case of déjà vu, and for good reason. Once again the Health and Human Services budget is being held hostage in an attempt to interfere with a woman's ability to access reproductive health care.

Extreme legislators in the Iowa House are seeking to remove the language in current law that allows a woman who becomes pregnant through rape or incest, and who receives Medicaid services, to terminate the pregnancy using Medicaid funding. These legislators argue that no tax dollars should be spent on abortions, regardless of whether a woman is a victim of a heinous crime.

This lack of compassion for a woman who has already been through the trauma of rape or incest is reprehensible. Forcing her to continue a pregnancy brought about though a violent act simply because she doesn't have the financial resources to pay for an abortion is cruel.

Rather than shaming and victimizing her all over again, we should be asking ourselves how we can provide support and assistance to a woman in this tragic situation.

For a woman who has been raped by a stranger, a partner, a trusted friend or even a family member, being forced to carry a pregnancy to term is a daily reminder of what she experienced, and in some cases the emotional impact is too severe.

It's important to note that these circumstances are few, but they are very real and they do occur. The costs associated with the care they receive are minimal in comparison to the trauma experienced.

The House version of the HHS budget also would deny public funding of family planning services to any Iowa agency that provides abortion care, i.e., Planned Parenthood. Public funding of family planning services enables us to provide quality health care at a price everyone can afford.

The problem with their plan is that one in five women will visit Planned Parenthood at some point in her life for reproductive health services like birth control, a Pap test, cancer screening, STD testing and treatment or a breast exam. Last year alone, 50,000 women visited a Planned Parenthood health center in Iowa, and more than half of them were at or below the federal poverty level. So cutting funding to Planned Parenthood would hurt thousands of women, men and families who rely on us for basic preventive health care each year.

Laws stripping Medicaid of rape and incest exceptions, and defunding Planned Parenthood not only jeopardize the health of our communities, they are in conflict with federal Medicaid laws. As a result, Iowa stands to lose $1.2 billion in federal Medicaid funding

This federal funding pays for programs for children in the foster care system, seniors in assisted living facilities, and Iowans with disabilities who are unable to work, among others.

Politics should never be involved in women's health care. A woman and her doctor should be trusted to make the best health decisions for themselves and their families.

I encourage you to remind your lawmakers that access to health care is important to you. They need to understand that when they reduce access to reproductive health care and the agencies that provide it, all in the name of ideology, it is not the providers that suffer. Rather, it is the women, men and youth who depend on us.

Jill June is president/CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland. Comments: questions@ppheartland.org