Editorial: Standing up for Planned Parenthood
Once again, Planned Parenthood is in the crosshairs, and once again, those who support an organization that provides women, including many poor women, with a broad spectrum of health care – not just abortion and birth control — have to fight for its survival.
The latest front is the Republican-controlled House of Representatives’ replacement for the Affordable Care Act, which was unveiled just a few days ago. There’s much to criticize in it, but the provision that would prevent women from using Medicaid funding to get any health services at Planned Parenthood is, frankly, one of the most egregious.
In fact, given how much money is at stake, it’s a barely veiled attempt to curtail or shut down an organization that many people rely on but which has become a stalking horse for abortion opponents, who have spent the decades since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion trying to find ways to restrict or downright eliminate it, even though approximately 60 percent of Americans support the right of a woman to get an abortion in all or most cases.