Last night during a health care town hall with CNN, the discussion got a little heated. During the event, a young woman, a private citizen named Katie Needle, stood up and addressed Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price with a question. “I am a Medicaid enrollee, and I am a Planned Parenthood patient and I would be absolutely devastated if Planned Parenthood were defunded,” she began, as noted by the Huffington Post.
“...This isn’t part of my question...earlier brought up Medicaid specifically, and complained about how one of the biggest problems under Obamacare was that only a third of doctors were accepting Medicaid. This plan chooses to cut a provider that sees over a million Medicaid patients every year. So, if that is your big problem with Obamacare, then how does that make any sense?”
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Katie Needle is our hero. Totally eviscerates Tom Price and #TrumpCare for defunding Planned Parenthood. pic.twitter.com/GokcC6XY9D
— CAP Action (@CAPAction) March 16, 2017
The comment was not only a reaction to the news of Planned Parenthood being defunded, it was specifically directed at Price, who’s continuously defended the Trump administration’s new health care plans. He also co-hosted the town hall. The New York resident then asked Price the question many women have wondered but haven’t been given the opportunity to ask him directly.
“How do you expect the millions of low-income women nationwide who depend on Planned Parenthood for these vital human services — basic needs — to access these things if Planned Parenthood is defunded?”
The conversation got the attention and support of users on Twitter and Planned Parenthood’s president, Cecile Richards. "Thank you Katie for speaking for @PPact patients everywhere!" she said.
Thank you Katie for speaking for @PPact patients everywhere! https://t.co/NDftmOvr43
— Cecile Richards (@CecileRichards) March 16, 2017
It’s important to note that under the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, abortion is legal. It’s also worth noting that three percent of all Planned Parenthood health services performed are abortions. As for Price’s rebuttal? He argued that the decision was due to Americans not wanting their tax dollars spent on supporting abortion clinics and practices.
Again, abortion is legal.
What's also damaging here though is the idea that our tax dollars are ONLY used for a greater good that we all can all agree on. Frankly, this is a bunch of BS. Remember when the National Science Foundation used $216,000 to study the use of ambiguous statements by politicians? Yeah that was a thing. One of many, many questionable things.
Let's not pretend the government has a history of spending tax dollars where it matters most. Every administration is guilty. However, citizens should have access to legal healthcare.