WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) introduced the Women’s Public Health and Safety Act, which gives states the authority to exclude abortion providers, like Planned Parenthood, from receiving state Medicaid funds. Under current law, states are required to allow any qualified provider to participate in a state’s Medicaid system. A non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) report revealed that Planned Parenthood received nearly $1.3 billion in Medicaid reimbursements over a three-year period, accounting for 81 percent of the abortion provider’s joint federal-state funding stream.
“Taxpayer dollars should never be used to support abortion providers. States have an interest in protecting life and should have the ability to prohibit Medicaid funds from going to facilities that perform harmful abortion procedures,” said Risch. “The Women’s Public Health and Safety Act will protect states’ rights, taxpayer dollars, and most importantly women and the unborn.”
“Abortion is not health care,” said Lankford. “It should not be controversial to say that taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to support abortion providers. States should have the right to decide that Medicaid funds will not support an abortion provider’s bottom line. This bill is just one solution that we can advance to stand up for the self-evident fact that all children have value and—to ensure our government values every life, at every stage.”
The bill is supported by Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, CatholicVote, March for Life, Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, Americans United for Life, Students for Life Action, National Right to Life, Family Research Council, Family Policy Alliance, Faith and Freedom Coalition, and Ethics and Public Policy Center HHS Accountability Project.
Risch and Lankford were joined by Senators Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Rick Scott (R-Fla), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), and Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas) to introduce the Senate bill.
# # #
