Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican contender for the presidency, moved to cut off $730,000 in Medicaid reimbursements to the state’s two Planned Parenthood clinics in late August. The question then arose, where would Louisiana women get these services in the event the funding was cancelled? From MoJo:
The task seems straightforward: Make a list of health care providers that would fill the void if Louisiana succeeded in defunding Planned Parenthood. But the state, which is fighting a court battle to strip the group of hundreds of thousands of dollars in Medicaid funds, is struggling to figure out who would provide poor women with family planning care if not Planned Parenthood.
So the state’s attorneys did some research. They said in a court declaration that there are 2,000 family planning providers ready to accommodate new female patients. John deGravelles, a federal judge who reviewed the list in a September 2nd court hearing, found hundreds of entries for specialists such as ophthalmologists; nursing home caregivers; dentists; ear, nose, and throat doctors; and even cosmetic surgeons. From Judge deGravelles:
It strikes me as extremely odd that you have a dermatologist, an audiologist, a dentist who are billing for family planning services…But that is what you’re representing to the court? You’re telling me that they can provide family planning and related services?
Dentists? Don’t dentists who do “Pap smears” wind up losing their licenses?
Anyway, the judge’s disbelief sent the state back to the drawing board. They came forward with a new list that did not include dentists, dermatologists, ophthalmologists and others. You will be shocked to learn the state was lying: Their new filing listed just 29 health care providers.
But even with this pared down list, it only got worse. MoJo reports that in Baton Rouge, the site of one of two Louisiana Planned Parenthood clinics, the state lists five alternate providers. But according to the state’s own filing, only three of those offer contraception, and two of those have wait times ranging from two to seven weeks. One of the Baton Rouge clinics the state suggested is not accepting any new patients for STI, breast cancer, or cervical cancer screenings.
Since Reagan, Republicans have been able to say whatever stupid or completely false thing they want. They keep doing it because their supporters don’t mind, and they almost never get called on it by the media. It’s been “regarding shape of the earth, opinions differ” for decades.
This tendency to make shit up or say ridiculous things is particularly pronounced whenever the subject is abortion, birth control, or any other aspect of female sexuality. Sadly, the notion that patients could turn elsewhere remains a key rationale when Republicans attempt to strip Planned Parenthood of $528 million in federal funding as part of this month’s budget talks.
So what Jindal’s minions are attempting is more of the same. But, perhaps you remember Mr. Jindal saying in 2013 that the GOP had to “stop being the stupid party”? He didn’t mean that. The GOP reserves the right to be as anti-abortion, anti-women, and anti-science as they want to be.
Let’s make an effort to wake up Mr. Jindal and his fellow GOP’ers, even if it may be futile. Here is Bon Jovi with “We Weren’t Born to Follow”, a top 10 hit for them in 2009:
For those who read the Wrongologist in email, you can view the video here.
Sample Lyrics:
We weren’t born to follow
Come on and get up off your knees
When life is a bitter pill to swallow
You gotta hold on to what you believe
Believe that the sun will shine tomorrow
And that your saints and sinners bleed
We weren’t born to follow
You gotta stand up for what you believe
Stupidity is not exclusive to the GOP. I’m still waiting for the polar caps to melt and NYC to become the next Atlantis. Different issues…same ignorance.
The real question is..Why do I care? This is a state issue not a federal one. Those federal $$ should be spent on getting our veterans off of the street. Until we meet our societal obligations to the people that volunteered to protect us, I don’t want to hear about one more social program that is underfunded.
@ Little Jimmy: Nice reframing. The issue isn’t the “stupid”. That was said by Lil’ Bobby. This IS a state issue, and the state lied about the facts in order to support an ideological point.
Having said that, I completely agree with you about the funding of programs for vets. I agree it should have much higher priority.
It would be useful to look at which of our federal politicians fail to support increased funding for veteran’s programs, and vote ’em out of office.
@Wrongologist: I am always a little worried when we agree. If Anyone of the presidential hopefuls ran on a Veterans Centered platform they would be able to draw from both sides of the political divide and win by a landslide. I think this is the one issue that all of us can agree on (maybe not Nancy Pelosi).
But back to the original point. The officials that lied or misrepresented the truth in the filing to the court should be fired. What more is there to say.