“Unconscionable & Deliberate”: GOP Budget Defunds Planned Parenthood Amid Maternal Health Crisis

AMY GOODMAN: I want to bring Mini Timmaraju into this conversation and relate it to what’s going on nationally. President Trump’s so-called big, beautiful bill, that many call just a tax break for billionaires, squeaked by in the House, now is in the Senate for a vote on a reconciliation bill that would defund hundreds of, among other abortion care clinics, Planned Parenthood clinics. A last-minute addition Thursday would ban Affordable Care Act healthcare plans from covering abortion. Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed the bill Wednesday ahead of the vote. This is what she said.

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO–CORTEZ: I want people to understand, for my Republican colleagues who assure what is in and not in this bill, in this process that has been this rushed, when you wake up in the morning, you will realize that you voted to defund Planned Parenthood and to take away healthcare from 13.7 million Americans. And when this country wakes up in the morning, there will be consequences to pay for this. And I yield back.

AMY GOODMAN: That’s AOC. I want to bring in Mini Timmaraju, president of Reproductive Freedom for All, formerly known as NARAL. You’ve launched a series of TV ads targeting key senators ahead of the vote on this budget bill. In light of what’s happening now in Georgia, the six-week ban, give us the map of the country and what this budget bill means.

MINI TIMMARAJU: Thanks, Amy. And thank you, Monica, for her incredible work and her team, not just in Georgia, but across the country.

You know, we’ve got 21 states with extreme abortion bans and restrictions. You layer on top of that — this is the post-Dobbs reality, right? — the map. In these states, like Georgia — by the way, I want to mention Brian Kemp and Chris Carr. They disbanded their statewide maternal mortality/maternal health review commission, and they stopped issuing public reports. So you’ve got this perfect storm across the country of 21 states where they’ve banned abortion, they’ve already shut down critical healthcare systems and clinics, and they’ve already created this chaotic situation, like we’re seeing in Georgia and in my home state of Texas.

Then you talk about gutting Medicaid and potentially defunding Planned Parenthood. That would also impact clinics in blue states. And this is really important, because these blue states have been absorbing the patients. These are states that have Democratic majorities, supermajorities, Democratic governors and AGs, where they’ve been boosting up and plussing up, stockpiling mifepristone, medication abortion, telemedicine services, clinic infrastructure in the states, but they would be gutted, as well. Many of them receive Medicaid, or they fall under the provision that you mentioned that would disconnect abortion care from Medicaid and Medicaid services.

So, we’re talking about completely dismantling family planning and abortion care services nationwide, at a time where we know we already have a maternal health crisis that particularly impacts women of color. But we also have clinics across the country being attacked and patients who need that critical care trying to travel from states with bans to other states, particularly the blue states. So, we are literally walking ourselves into — Congress is literally walking us into a crisis of forced birth, when we have Medicaid services that cover the majority, in many parts of this country, of births, prenatal care and postpartum care. And it’s unconscionable, and it is deliberate, and it is by design.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Mini Timmaraju, what specifically in this so-called big, beautiful bill, in terms of the cuts, will affect, especially when it comes to Medicaid, the poorest of our citizens?

MINI TIMMARAJU: I mean, look, the bill that came out of the House decimates Medicaid. It cuts significant funding to provide tax breaks for billionaires. There’s a couple of things that are going to immediately happen. You’re going to see clinics, hundreds — Planned Parenthood estimates 200 of their clinics, that provide not just abortion care, but also general family planning services — that’s prenatal care, that’s postpartum care, that’s cancer screenings, that’s STI screenings, that’s well-woman visits, in many places it’s general primary healthcare and the safety net for healthcare for many Americans, not just women, but all families — they’re estimating 200 clinics to close nationwide, should this bill go down — should this bill pass the Senate.

In addition, you’ve got hospital systems lobbying against this bill, you’ve got insurance providers lobbying against this bill, because this bill would also just decimate healthcare infrastructure well beyond family planning services. When that happens, the poorest of Americans who need these services, but also a lot of Americans who are getting these services who might not realize, when they go to Planned Parenthood and they get this subsidized care, it’s actually Medicaid, are going to be forced into our nation’s ERs. They’re going to be forced into other clinics. They may not get care at all. And that will have a dramatic impact on all Americans, regardless of where you get their healthcare, because it will decimate the larger healthcare system in this country.

AMY GOODMAN: We only have 20 seconds. How are you fighting back?

MINI TIMMARAJU: We are lobbying aggressively the U.S. Senate. We are — as you know, we’ve launched these ads. We are organizing on the ground. We’re working with partners like Monica and her team in Georgia. And we will be making sure Americans in those states realize that, come 2026, if they’ve decimated Medicaid, there will be hell to pay.

AMY GOODMAN: Mini Timmaraju, president of Reproductive Freedom for All, and Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong.

That does it for our show. We’re hiring a senior headline news producer, a director of audience and a director of technology. To find out about all three jobs, go to democracynow.org/jobs. That does it for our show. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González, for another edition of Democracy Now!