This week, Planned Parenthood in Missouri was busy halting plans to have five abortuaries operating in the state. Planned Parenthood has an abortion facility in St. Louis and was opening new abortuaries in Kansas City, Columbia, Joplin, and Springfield. However, last Friday, the full Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary stay on the groundbreaking ruling issued by U.S. District Judge Howard Sachs in April 2017.
Although abortions had begun in Kansas City, the stay issued by the appeals court will keep the other three sites abortion-free for the foreseeable future. Predictably, Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri told reporters that it is looking at all options and is hoping to kill babies (our words, not PP’s) in the other three cities as soon as possible.
In other news, pro-life groups across the nation continue to try to galvanize support for the Graham-Cassidy Bill that now forms the basis for the FY 2017 Reconciliation Bill in Congress. The bill, which will take away all Medicaid funds going to Planned Parenthood (about $400 million) for one year, must be passed and signed into law by September 30, 2017. It will also end Obamacare’s individual and employer mandate penalties, allowing those who choose not to have insurance coverage not to have it. Graham-Cassidy will also replace Obamacare with block grants so that states can create their own programs to provide health insurance. Many experts who have read the details of the bill believe that this is the best alternative to Obamacare yet developed.
However, we have only one week to get this through Congress and signed by the president. We ask all our readers to put aside other concerns this week and contact your two U.S. senators and tell them you want them to support the Graham-Cassidy Bill. Call your senators at (202) 224-3121 to urge their support. Our friends at FRC Action have created an e-mail you can send to the senators. Simply visit its site and send the e-mail.
One thing is sure. This bill, if passed with its current language, will take $400 million from Planned Parenthood. We cannot sit by and watch this opportunity slip away. We must all do everything we can in the next 10 days to pass this reconciliation bill and defund Planned Parenthood.
If this doesn’t happen this week, we may have to live with Planned Parenthood Medicaid funding for most of the next year.