North Carolina GOP Overrides Veto, Axes Planned Parenthood Funding

Republican state representatives in North Carolina voted to override Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue's veto of the state budget Wednesday morning, ensuring that a provision to strip all federal and state money from Planned Parenthood will take effect on July 1. North Carolina is now the third state, after Indiana and Kansas, to defund the family planning provider because it also provides abortions.

Planned Parenthood of North Carolina (PPNC), which has nine clinics across the state, provides affordable birth control, preventative health care and family planning services to over 25,000 men and women. Without the $434,000 a year it usually receives in state and federal funds, Planned Parenthood says it will now have to axe its teen pregnancy prevention and adolescent parenting programs and force its low-income patients to pay out of pocket.

"The biggest impact is gonna be on the men and women we serve," said Melissa Reed, vice president of public policy for Planned Parenthood Health Systems. "There are 12- to 14-week waits for women to get into the health department for birth control or breast cancer screenings, but we can see patients the very same week. The health department relies on Planned Parenthood to fill that gap, and now we will be prohibited from serving as that essential safety net provider."

PPNC receives funds through the Title X Family Planning Program and state-funded birth control programs as a way to provide discounted pap tests, cancer screenings and birth control for low-income, uninsured patients. The Hyde Amendment prevents state and federal money from being used to pay for abortions.

Unlike Indiana, which blocked Planned Parenthood's ability to contract with Medicaid, North Carolina clinics will continue to be able to serve Medicaid recipients. It's the low-income, uninsured patients who don't qualify for Medicaid that will now be falling through the cracks, Reed said, since PPNC will no longer be able to offer them the same low-cost services.

Conservative state lawmakers have been flogging Planned Parenthood for its association with abortions this past week during debates over the defunding bill and another bill that would restrict access to abortions. Rep. Pat McElraft (R-Emerald Isle) told her colleagues on the House Floor a tearful story about her nephew and his girlfriend's experience with Planned Parenthood 14 years ago.

"She went to Planned Parenthood, asked them what her choices were," she said. "They told her she would have a deformed baby because of her drug use, her only option was abortion."

"He went with her to what she describes as a very dark house. In that very dark house, a nurse attended to her. My nephew asked the nurse if she could at least see the ultrasound. The nurse said, 'I can't do that, I'll get fired.'"

McElroy later admitted that the incident happened in Georgia, not North Carolina, and that the "dark house" where the abortion occurred was actually not a Planned Parenthood clinic. The family planning provider estimates that abortions account for less than 3 percent of the services it provides.

According to a recent poll, 57 percent of North Carolina voters oppose the measure to defund Planned Parenthood and teen pregnancy prevention programs, and Reed said people have already started sending donations to keep PPNC afloat.

"Beginning at 7:30 a.m. this morning, we had donations coming in," she told HuffPost. "North Carolinians really support Planned Parenthood and are stepping up to support our efforts."

Planned Parenthood of Indiana received an unprecedented $116,000 in donations from across the world after it was defunded in May, allowing it to continue serving its Medicaid patients for more than a month after the bill took effect.

Reed said PPNC is now considering all options -- including litigation against the state -- to hang onto its low-income patients. A similar lawsuit is currently being heard in Indiana.

"They are using the budget to punish Planned Parenthood for other services we provide, such as abortion care, which does not even use any of this money," Reed said. "They can't legally do that."

Like the House, the North Carolina Senate is expected to vote to override the veto. That vote is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

Comments

[JwillTexas]

07:09 PM on 06/22/2011

My Great Aunt is Mrs.Mcelraft!! So proud of her for standing up for the unborn, I once walked into a planned parenthood when my wife first got pregnant because we wanted an "official" test done.I didnt know what they stood for at the time but they were the rudest people ive ever dealt with in my life. As soon as they asked my wife what she planned to do and she said get married they hurried us out the door. I work in sales and trust me these people are in the business of selling abortions.

[foresure]

04:11 PM on 06/22/2011

All right, Planned Parenthood is loosing some of its funding. A victory for the neo-Puritans, and Members of the Anti-Sex, and Pro-Punishment Society.

1. Use fewer doctors. Rely more on Nurse Practioneers and Midwives. In some states Nurse Practioneers are able to write presciptions.

2. How about training a cadre of microbiologists to read Pap smears?

How about the titled of Licensed and Certified Pap Smear Technician?

3. Equal time: How about a Licensed and Certified Prostate Cancer Technician?

Allowed both to read and administer the test. No other medical responsibities.

4. If a woman is expected to have an "uneventful" birth, why not put a midwife in charge, with a physician on call at the facility.

To me, as a lay person, the real danger of a Midwife is that she may not know to cope with an expected complication, or not have the resources available to cope with them.

5. Why couldn't a doctor, on a rotating basis, appear for two hours a week (4-6 p.m. on a school day) in a women's dressing room to administer pap smears and birth control presciptions, or devices. Pay the doctor with honors and recognition

6. All birth control, including pills, vasecetomy and tubal ligation must be covered by ALL INSURANCE.

8. Require birth control pill manufacturers to lower the wholesale price of the pill by 20%, so that pharmacies can distribute the pill to those with no insurance.

Do the same with condums.

[nrgordon1]

09:04 AM on 06/22/2011

Oh and BTW.....abortions are an extremely low percentage of the work that PP does.....get the facts right before you take something away.

[nrgordon1]

09:02 AM on 06/22/2011

I hope states that decrease funding or stop funding for PP save money for welfare because alot more children will be born because women will no longer have access to affordable birth control. Hope this makes all you tax payers in these states happy.

[thinkabtit39]

12:44 PM on 06/22/2011

Wal- mart Pharmacy has BC for $9 a month. That is without insurance. cash pay. That is pretty cheap! Doctors offices will write an Rx for BC for many months,so women will not have to keep paying for office visits!

[jmpurser]

09:36 PM on 06/21/2011

Planned parenthood is "associated with abortions" because abortions are health care and that's what planned parenthood does.  This war on Planned Parenthood by the GOP (and some Democrats) is a war on health care for poor women.  There's a REASON women have a shorter expected life in red states.

[mdbcg]

08:05 PM on 06/21/2011

I love the people that say they support this measure yet they don't EVEN LIVE in our state!!!!! The baby has been thrown out with the bath water here, and last time I checked Roe v. Wade HAS NOT been overturned. Yet you will sit back and allow tens of thousands of people who rely on this organization for basic medical care to potentially suffer for a procedure that accounts for 3% of TOTAL activity by PPNC. Can you say insane here???? It takes 2-3 months to get into a county health department to receive breast cancer screenings or birth control where PPNC made it immediately available. You claim you want to stop abortions yet you potentially set up a situation where women who least can afford to become pregnant may end up that way BECAUSE of Republican indifference and their supporter's comfort riding on their high horses!!!!!!!

It is disingenuous to say that this stops an abortion since NONE of the monies taken away even went towards an abortion in the first place!!!!!! It is illegal to strip Title X funding and these actions show how little regard Republicans nationwide have for the health care of the poor. What next, a return to debtors prisons as well????

[jmpurser]

09:41 PM on 06/21/2011

Yep.  This has nothing to do with stopping abortions any more than defunding ACORN was about voter fraud.  This is a chance for the GOP to score political points by depriving poor women of health care.

[James McParland]

10:17 PM on 06/21/2011

Oh. You mean killing fetuses = "health care." How odd. Why not just call it "killing fetuses"?

If you call "killing fetuses" by some other name, like "health care," then you are employing euphemisms to hide the reality of what you are talking about. Be honest. Man up. Just call it "killing fetuses."

[Tex44]

07:30 PM on 06/21/2011

It is good that North Carolina will stop funding Planned Parenthood. It will help save some unborn children.

[Okiemama]

09:22 PM on 06/21/2011

So the Republicans can deny them health care and nutrition once they are born.

[Tex44]

09:52 PM on 06/21/2011

The parents should be taught responsibility and birth control.

[jmpurser]

09:38 PM on 06/21/2011

If they were actually trying to save an oxymoron like "unborn children" then they would increase funding to planned parenthood.  They provide much more in the way of birth control than they do abortions.  But this isn't about abortion.  It's about scoring political points when the only cost is the lives of poor women.

As a Tarheel I'm deeply ashamed that my former home has fallen so far.

[methodman]

06:49 PM on 06/21/2011

I am listening to Profab Sprouts' Cruel". This is the GOP Mantra

[James McParland]

03:04 PM on 06/20/2011

Planned Parenthood is a private charity. If you like Plannend Parnethood, then contribute your money to it. Don't make other people contribute to it. Simple.

[zydecoguru]

06:35 PM on 06/21/2011

I get it, bail out private banks and hedge fund investors, defund programs for low-income, uninsured patients..that's really compasionate.

[James McParland]

08:50 PM on 06/21/2011

Bailing out banks and car companies is completely irrelevantto the topic, but since you bring it up, I was opposed to it.

[makebofapay]

06:39 PM on 06/21/2011

You are wrong. Planned Parenthood helps prevent unwanted pregnancies. It is a public service. There is no reason on earth for Americans to give up any public services. We are still a rich nation. All of our money is in the pockets of the top 1% We need to take it back and pay for abortions on demand and birth control. I would rather give tax money to prevent unwanted children than give tax money to support them in prison.

[Robearbeach]

08:40 PM on 06/21/2011

I'll pay for all the birth control you want. But I don't want to pay to kill babies who exist because women exercised their "right to choose" when it mattered and "chose" to have sex without using birth control.

[Cratewasher]

10:58 PM on 06/17/2011

No Planned Parenthood = more abortions.

[aidendamien]

02:53 PM on 06/20/2011

Yeah, let's have accidental parenthood.

[makebofapay]

06:27 PM on 06/21/2011

And abortions are bad? No they are NOT bad. If you don't like abortions, don't have one. Otherwise you have NO RIGHT to take away the rights of any woman to have an abortion. You have no right to judge her or cancel the public service money she recieves in order to get one.

[thinkabtit39]

08:39 PM on 06/21/2011

Hyde amendment=no funds used for abortion.

[thinkabtit39]

08:40 PM on 06/21/2011

If one wants or needs an abortion they should have to pay out of their own pockets, period and they do.

[Mag7]

07:30 PM on 06/17/2011

Why are republicans infatuated with other people's private lives?

[James McParland]

03:04 PM on 06/20/2011

Why do liberals want to take everyone else's money for their pet social projects?

[makebofapay]

06:32 PM on 06/21/2011

Huh? Pet social projects? Like the fire department? Like the police department? Like schools? Like libraries? Why should any American be forced by the selfish 1% to give up funding for any public service? Answer: they shouldn't! The fat,rich, greedy pigs at the top of the money chain MUST PAY TAXES and the corporate thieves who pay no taxes must be made to pay them so that our society can function and be productive. Progressives stand for the good of all not for the good of the small selfish, greedy 1% who control 40% of the nation's wealth.

[zydecoguru]

06:37 PM on 06/21/2011

I think "everyone else's" money is caught up in all those tax breaks for millionaires and the two wars started and supported by "you Know who"

[chefacree]

03:37 PM on 06/17/2011

Another attack on women by the GOP . No prenadal, care no help with the babies, no healthcare for the babies just don't have an abortion. Thats a sin. God what hypocrisy.

[makebofapay]

06:36 PM on 06/21/2011

Yup, keep 'em barefoot and pregnant. If this is what the Christian god wants then he is no god at all. And the fools who push to end abortion, prenatal care and education are the biggest "sinners" of all because they bow down before a false god.

[iblogleft]

12:01 AM on 06/17/2011

At least we can rest assured that this is the last great gasp of life from the old, fat, ignorant white majority (I can say it because I am old and white).

Let's face it. They are dropping dead by the day. Even their most brainwashed children will one day see the insanity and decide (if they still have that ability) to abandon this dangerous tribal ideology for good.

I feel sorry for these people. The unwillingness to learn new information, the inability to understand the world around them, and a reality created through belief in fantasy that is impervious to anything that does not directly intervene.

They will be staring at the ceiling, and in that last breath, whisper, "Oh my god, I was wrong".

There is a world out there, full of human beings. I know you cannot understand now, but they all want the same basic things, and those things are not yours alone. They are not "taking" anything from you.

Remember that It is never too late to learn, never too late to change, until that day you are staring up at the ceiling with that last breath and you realize you made a huge mistake.

[chefacree]

03:38 PM on 06/17/2011

Very well said!!

[thinkabtit39]

08:46 PM on 06/21/2011

I am Conservative, have been around the world giving free care to people who are truly in need. I have seen many horrible things, and the people in this country are still blessed beyond their wildest dreams!

[imfedup]

11:08 PM on 06/16/2011

If you hate abortion and try to defund Planned Parenthood, you're a hypocrite.

[ProgressivsLoveAmerica]

07:22 PM on 06/16/2011

It's all one big political game with the budget until someone's daughter, sister, mother, wife, colleague, or other beloved woman in their life dies or ends up permanently maimed (in the most intimate an emotionally devastating of ways) after a back alley abortion!

Planned Parenthood is, first and foremost, a charity!

They do more to prevent abortions from becomming necessary than ANY self-righteous conservative ever has!

I might be more willing to take Republicans seriously on the issue of abortion rights IF they actually put their money where their mouth is. Instead of being irresponsibly pro-birth maybe they ought to be pro-life in reality:

Maybe they ought to get to work on providing women with 1 year's paid maternity leave, AFFORDABLE pre-natal healthcare, and child-care for working mothers. It would be nice if they could do this WITHOUT the judgmental rhetoric. But NO! That's what France does. We don't want to be communist Frenchies now do we???

[MovieGuy2010]

07:46 PM on 06/16/2011

Planned Parent IS the leading provider or even THE ONLY provider of Prenatal care to the poor of this country in many locals.

But our Faux Christianist want to eliminate that, because, as we remember from the bible, Jesus talked so much about the laffer curve and how bad deficits were and never mentioned care of the poor, the needy, the children.....