Our View

Our View

Planned Parenthood mess rears its ugly head again

It is certainly unfortunate for Gov. Asa Hutchinson and those supporters of his decision last September to defund Medicaid funding for all patients who are insured by Medicaid and use Planned Parenthood services in Arkansas to be ordered by a federal judge to resume funding.

U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker’s order expands a preliminary injunction that has prevented the state from cutting off the funding for three women who are plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit.

Let us make it clear that people should have the right to make their own choices in their lives with certain exceptions and if they are within the law. But, when it comes to using our tax dollars to carry out their personal desires or agenda, particularly when it comes to such a controversial and divisive issue, we believe there is a problem.

Hutchinson’s defunding directive came on the heels of a July 2015 video that showed that some Planned Parenthood clinics in other states had profited from the sale of fetal tissue after abortions. This federal judge we consider as being liberal in the decisions on this issue said, “Should the court fail to issue injunctive relief, members of the patient class will be denied their choice of provider for family planning services.”

Our response to that is simply since when should the taxpayers be held financially responsible for providing so-called “family planning” to an individual dependent upon government subsidies?

In Arkansas, funds already couldn’t be used to pay for abortions. Hutchinson’s directive prevented the use of Medicaid funds for any services that beneficiaries of the federal and state-funded insurance programs sought at the Arkansas clinics.

A spokesperson for Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s office, which is defending the state in the lawsuit, said the judge’s order allows Planned Parenthood to continue to use its patients to pad its bottom line at taxpayers’ expense.

Fortunately, the ultimate issues in this case will be decided by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, the spokesperson pointed out.

We believe, as do many others, that the state had the right to discontinue Medicaid funding to a particular provider for ethical reasons.

Let us point out, the two Planned Parenthood clinics in Arkansas serve about 4,400 patients a year, and a significant proportion of these patients in Arkansas receive this care for free through this government subsidy we call Medicaid.

Medicaid paid about $51,000 to these clinics in the fiscal year that ended in 2015.

While this judge’s decision will be left up to the Court of Appeals we’re almost certain the final decision will support her findings, which means we, as taxpayers, will continue to subsidize the cost of treating these patients on Medicaid at these controversial clinics.