Abortion funding battle has already begun in Iowa

It's one week into Iowa's Republican-controlled legislative session and already those on both sides of the abortion argument have come out swinging.

Gov. Terry Branstad on Tuesday, during his final Condition of the State address, told legislators that he wanted to 'redirect family planning money to organizations that focus on providing health care for women and eliminate taxpayer funding for organizations that perform abortions.'

Meanwhile, Senate Republicans introduced a bill that would end a waiver program that allocates federal dollars to the state for family planning services — a chunk of which is administered to Planned Parenthood to pay for services such as Pap smears, pregnancy tests and birth control.

The bill also would create a state-run program that would fund these types of services to organizations that do not perform abortions.

Even without the passage of this bill, no state or federal dollars can be used on abortions.

Planned Parenthood already is mounting a response, with officials saying they intend to be 'relentless' when it comes to talking with lawmakers and also are working on mobilizing Planned Parenthood clients and supporters to speak with their legislators.

'This move — which will impact as many as 30,000 Iowans — is meant only to punish Planned Parenthood for providing safe, legal abortion health services, which comprise approximately three percent of our comprehensive health services,' said Rachel Lopez, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, during a call on Friday with Iowa reporters. 'Which means these radical lawmakers are willing to scrap access to 97 percent of the vital health services we provide because of extremist positions on a woman's right to make her own reproductive choices.'

Iowa Family Planning Network

At the heart of this fight is about $3.4 million the state administers to family planning agencies, federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics to cover reproductive health services for teenagers and adults through the Iowa Family Planning Network.

The program provides limited Medicaid coverage for low-income individuals at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty level. The waiver gives men and women immediate eligibility for family planning services, from sexually transmitted-disease testing and birth control to Pap smears and pelvic exams.

This is not the first time a bill has been introduced in Iowa that would direct those funds away from Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers. Similar legislation was offered last year, but it did not make it through the Democrat-controlled Senate.

Then in the middle of 2016, the state of Iowa renewed the waiver.

If the bill, Senate File 2, were to pass this time around, Iowa no longer would receive federal funding to pay for these services, which Planned Parenthood of the Heartland says accounts for about 90 percent of the funding.

Instead, the state would pull from the Social Services Block Grant a $15 million grant that pays for a variety of state programs, including child and family services and special services for disabled Iowans. The state would have to shift around how it uses those dollars to pay for family planning services, but core services would not be impacted, according to the Iowa Department of Human Services.

Planned Parenthood clinics would be excluded from receiving funds, which instead would be redirected to community health clinics and federally qualified health centers.

More than abortions

However, Planned Parenthood argues that these organizations would not be able to absorb the number of patients its 17 Iowa clinics see on an annual basis.

Planned Parenthood of the Heartland's Lopez said the move would 'set in motion a health care crisis' in Iowa as the organization is 'not sure how it could make up that shortfall.'

During fiscal year 2016, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland worked with more than 33,000 patients in Iowa, providing more than 4,000 cervical cancer screenings; 6,700 breast exams; and 74,000 tests for sexually transmitted diseases.

What's more, nearly 50 percent of patients are at or below the federal poverty level.

The health care provider also hosted more than 2,800 educational programs that reached more than 42,000 teens, adults and families, according to information provided by Planned Parenthood of the Heartland.

The organization relies on a mix of funding to provide these services including private donations, public grants and reimbursements from insurers, such as Medicaid.

'We don't believe (other facilities and clinics) can provide the same level of expertise in reproductive health care,' Lopez said. 'There is no evidence that any of those providers are able to absorb that number of patients — many are overloaded already and don't keep things on hand regularly, such as contraceptives.

'Anyone who comes into Planned Parenthood for contraceptive leaves with contraceptives.'

l Comments: (319) 398-8331; chelsea.keenan@thegazette.com