Wisconsin Planned Parenthood clinics pause abortion services amid funding crisis | Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood clinics in Wisconsin will cease to provide abortions on Wednesday, because organizational centers across the country find it difficult to navigate a law that blocks the reproductive health giant to receive Medicaid reimbursements.

Thanks to a provision in the new tax and expenditure bill of Donald Trump, the supply suppliers who receive more than $ 800,000 in Medicaid reimbursements, the US government insurance program for low -income people, are prevented from participating in the program for a year. This provision is so closely adapted that it applies almost exclusively to Planned Parenthood, a long time a conservative target.

It is already illegal to use Federal Medicaid dollars to pay most of the abortions. Instead, Planned Parenthood clinics rely on Medicaid to pay services such as cancer screening, STI tests and contraception.

By putting an end to his abortion arrangement, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin seems to try to continue to receive Medicaid reimbursements for these other services. The measure is intended to be temporary, said the regional affiliate in a press release.

“It was always the intention of the law of the Trump administration of ‘` `defeat’ ‘Planned Parenthood: Sow Chaos and the confusion, close the Planned Parenthood health centers, access to the essential healthcare band for patients, and it is more difficult for everyone, everywhere to obtain an abortion – even in the states where it is legal,” said a spokesperson for Planned Federation of America The national organization of the organization, said in a statement. “It’s the chaos they wanted to see.”

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin would be the first affiliate to cease to provide abortions in a state where the procedure remains legal. Autoomy News first announced the news of the suspension.

At least two independent abortion providers are still open in Wisconsin. However, a consortium of supporters of abortion in the neighboring Illinois said in a statement that they “were ready to receive people traveling from Wisconsin for abortions.

Without Medicaid, Planned Parenthood estimates that up to 200 of its clinics can be forced to close. More than 60% of closing clinics are in rural areas or “medically under-commissioned areas”, while around 90% of clinics are located in blue states that protect abortion rights.

Maine and the state of Washington allocated money to the affiliates of Planned Parenthood to cover the deficit caused by the financing provision. (Maine also sends money to Maine’s family planning, another abortion supplier that was also funded by Trump’s tax and expenditure bill.) Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood affiliates in Kentucky and Oregon have declared that they would try to see the patients of Medicaid for free for the longest possible.

But this is not a lasting plan, according to Sara Kennedy, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette in Oregon. Before the adoption of Trump’s bill, around 70% of affiliate patients used Medicaid. Now the affiliate plans to lose more than $ 12 million in Medicaid income over the next year.

“Every day, we see hundreds of thousands of Medicaid patients and we are not reimbursed for any of these services. It is therefore not sustainable for a business,” said Kennedy. “If the State does not approach an emergency to be able to support and protect access to reproductive health care, there will be no choice but for us to start loading patients.”

Many clinics were already confronted with a disastrous financial strait even before the bill for Trump’s taxes and expenses. This year, at least 20 Planned Parenthood clinics in seven states have closed or announced its intention to close soon.