Planned Parenthood is denouncing U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan’s plan to defund the health care provider as part of a bill to repeal Obamacare.
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England’s Nicole Clegg says if Ryan is successful, the health provider would no longer receive federal reimbursements for its Medicare and Medicaid patients.
“So that could impact about 15 percent of our patients in Maine,” she says. “Across the country, that could impact 1.5 million patients.”
U.S. law prohibits federal funds to be used for abortion services. Clegg says the federal reimbursements typically pay for basic health care, such as disease testing and treatment, and reproductive health care.
Ryan’s proposal drew concern from U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, who told reporters in the capital that she’s “not happy that the speaker has decided to include defunding of Planned Parenthood … in the package.”
