I see so many articles about whether the government should ‘fund Planned Parenthood.’ (Or, today, ‘de-fund’ the organization.) Since that’s a Republican lie, you’d think the ‘liberal media’ wouldn’t go along, but since ‘the liberal media’ is another lie, what can you do?
The government doesn’t fund Planned Parenthood. It never has. Agencies get funded, not healthcare providers. Republicans started that lie long ago, and it continues because we let it.
This is just normal reimbursement. The government doesn’t provide healthcare themselves, they reimburse healthcare providers. There are carefully reviewed price lists of allowed procedures and services: “Immunize a kid for diphtheria and you get X dollars back”, that kind of thing. Do an allowed service correctly, you get reimbursed for the cost of doing it.
Planned Parenthood is a healthcare provider just like any doctor. Their clinics perform procedures from the list — preventive care, cancer screening, STD detection and treatment, birth control, all stuff the government allows — and afterword, applies for reimbursement based on the service they did for that client. Planned Parenthood has a great record for efficient and affordable service, and provides allowed services in many communities that have no other provider.
Republicans lie about ‘funding’ because that makes the other lies easier. No, reimbursing then for a cancer screening procedure doesn’t fund abortions. The reimbursement covers the cost of that cancer screening for that one woman. Same for the next service.
What they really want is silence. They don’t want any group they don’t control telling adults what their medical options really are. It’s been their goal for years.
lib·er·ty
/ˈlibərdē/
1. the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life, behavior, or political views.
synonyms: independence, freedom, autonomy, sovereignty, self-government, self-rule, self-determination;
2. the power or scope to act as one pleases.
synonyms: freedom, independence, free rein, license, self-determination, free will, latitude, “personal liberty”
Denying free adults their rights, or even the knowledge of what rights they have, is literally the opposite of ‘liberty’.
