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Senate Update: Targeting Planned Parenthood could harm women
by Bob Dvorsky, State Senator · Op-Ed · February 02, 2017
Many legislative Republicans want to end federal funding for Planned Parenthood, making it difficult for thousands of Iowa women to get the preventative health care they need, including cancer screenings, birth control and other health care services.
Targeting organizations like Planned Parenthood that provide affordable health care services to low-income Iowans could harm the health and wellbeing of Iowa women and other patients.
Hundreds of Iowans showed up at the State Capitol to try to prevent that from happening. Unfortunately, Republicans largely dismissed their concerns when they attended a public meeting on Senate File 2, a bill to eliminate funding for Iowa’s family planning network.
The current family planning program has reduced unintended pregnancies and abortions. It has also saved taxpayers millions of dollars. An evaluation of the program by the University of Iowa Public Policy Center in May showed that it has cut Medicaid costs for deliveries, births and first years of life by nearly $345 million. Iowa taxpayers saved nearly $3.40 for every dollar then invested in it.
SF2 would scrap the successful program and force Iowa taxpayers to spend 10 times the money, just to exclude Planned Parenthood. The plan will also force thousands of Iowa women to find a new health care provider, while reducing the number of available providers. This move is likely to lead to more unintended pregnancies and abortions.
SF2 is bad for Iowa women and families. Iowans don’t support it and we should reject it.
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