Defunding Planned Parenthood could be the GOP's first big defeat of the new year
By Paul Waldman December 20 at 1:56 PM
We’re now a month away from the inauguration of Donald Trump, and only a couple of weeks away from the swearing-in of a new Congress, one that at long last knows that it no longer has to worry that its bills will be vetoed by a president from the other party. As you might expect, many Republicans are giddy with excitement over all the new laws they’ll be able to pass, as they remake America into a paradise of liberty, prosperity and strong old-fashioned values. But there’s danger lurking there, too, because a whole bunch of promises they’ve made in recent years are now going to have to be kept, and they won’t have a Democratic president to use as an excuse for avoiding ideologically important but politically perilous actions.
For now I want to focus on just one of those actions: defunding Planned Parenthood. This is going to be one of the first items on the Republican agenda, not because the leadership necessarily relishes having a fight over it, but because Republican activists are already demanding it, and they will not be denied. This is likely to be big trouble for Republicans — indeed, it could be their first major legislative defeat next year.
Just to clarify, “defunding” Planned Parenthood has nothing to do with abortion, because federal funds can’t go to abortion services. The funds in question are mostly Medicaid reimbursements: a woman on Medicaid goes to a Planned Parenthood clinic for a gynecological exam, a cancer screening, or some other health service, and Medicaid pays the bill. What Republicans want to do is bar women on Medicaid from getting their health care from Planned Parenthood. They passed such a provision last year, and President Obama vetoed it.
Courts have struck down state laws that tried to prevent Medicaid patients from using Planned Parenthood, and the Obama administration just instituted a federal rule barring states from denying Medicaid patients the ability to get care from the organization’s clinics. But that could be overridden by a new law Congress passed and President Trump signed.
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