Officials at Puerto Rico’s two Planned Parenthood clinics say they’re aware of the faraway battle in Washington over Zika funding, but they are mostly just carrying on with their work.
“We know that there are some discussions going on on Capitol Hill and Congress,” Marjorie Vazquez, program director for Profamilia, told the Washington Examiner. “What we are trying to do is we’re trying to focus on our work plans.”
Planned Parenthood’s Puerto Rico branch, called Profamilia, is in the middle of a partisan fight over funding to combat the Zika virus, which is spreading in the U.S. but has already infected Puerto Rico’s population at a huge rate. Almost 14,000 people in the territory have been infected, overwhelmingly through mosquito bites.
While Democrats dislike how Republicans are proposing to pay for the bill, they’re complaining publicly that it doesn’t fund Profamilias. The measure uses a funding stream that would provide revenue to dozens of community health centers, public health department and hospitals on the island, but not to Profamilias’ centers.
Profamilia has eight facilities in Puerto Rico, but most only provide women with education. It operates just two clinics, both in San Juan. One facility offers gynecological services while the other provides abortions.
Vazquez said that if provided with additional funding, Profamilias could expand its efforts to educate women about Zika, its effects on fetuses and how it can be transmitted. But she noted the group doesn’t screen for the virus or work to prevent its spread outside sexual transmission.
“We are giving them condoms and we are also telling people to think about their choice in terms of pregnancy prevention,” Vazquez said.
Those services are provided by other health providers who focus more on primary care, Vazquez noted. She said that if a patient visited a Profamilia clinic suspecting she had the virus, she would be referred to another health center to be screened.
Asked whether more patients are requesting abortions due to Zika infection, Vazquez said she couldn’t say because patients aren’t asked to give a reason for why they’re seeking an abortion.
The House-passed Zika funding bill wouldn’t take existing money away from Profamilia, which would continue to receive Medicaid reimbursements for care, including any that is Zika-related. Yet Senate Democrats say they’re filibustering the $1.1 billion measure, insisting that it provide the funds through a block grant that Profamilia could apply for.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has scheduled a vote on the measure next week, but Democrats say they will continue blocking it until Republicans agree to revise it.
Planned Parenthood has taken up the issue, accusing Republicans of trying to block the funds from being used for family planning services.
“Congress needs to … pass a bill in response to the Zika crisis that centers comprehensive access to reproductive health care providers and family planning,” Planned Parenthood vice president Dawn Laguens said last month.
