Congress is tangled in yet another dispute over Planned Parenthood funding, this time tied into a larger bill funding Zika prevention efforts.
Disputes have gotten so heated that there’s some talk of shutting down the government at the end of the month if lawmakers can’t agree on adding Zika dollars to a government funding bill.
Democrats charge that until Republicans remove so-called “poison pill” riders blocking funding for Planned Parenthood clinics, they will continue to keep the $1.1 billion measure from final Senate passage. Republicans, blaming Democrats for the gridlock, say they have done no such thing.
The reality is a little more complicated. Here are three things to know about the battle:
1.) The Zika funding bill doesn’t explicitly block funding from Planned Parenthood.
Instead, it attaches an extra phrase onto language describing how some of the funding can be allocated. About $95 million available through the Social Services Block Grant to fight the virus should go to “public health departments, hospitals and entities reimbursed by public health plans,” the measure says.
In theory, that could make it harder for states to award the money to Planned Parenthood and other clinics that provide only women’s reproductive health services. But it’s not certain that would be the case, depending on how officials interpret the phrase.
2.) Planned Parenthood could still get extra Medicaid funding for anti-Zika efforts.
Medicaid already pays the women’s health and abortion provider about $400 million annually through reimbursements for care to low-income women.
There’s nothing in the Zika funding bill that would exclude Planned Parenthood in the U.S. from being reimbursed for birth control provided to Medicaid patients to help them avoid infection by the virus, which is transmitted both sexually and through mosquitoes.
3.) Planned Parenthood’s two clinics in Puerto Rico might not be able to get any extra funding for Zika response, including through Medicaid.
Profamilias is Planned Parenthood’s Puerto Rico branch. Of its eight facilities on the island, two provide services. One offers gynecological exams and the other provides abortions.
Dozens of community health centers and public hospitals in Puerto Rico could get Zika money through the Social Services Black Grant. But it’s not clear whether Profamilias could apply, for the same reason that U.S. Planned Parenthood clinics might not be able to apply — because of the extra language attached to the bill.
Nor can Profamilias receive additional Medicaid dollars for making more birth control available to women, as the Puerto Rican branch doesn’t get reimbursements through the program.
