It doesn't matter how many groups conservatives lose the will to pick on, they will always have their go-to scapegoat, women. Story out of Jefferson City, Missouri:
Missouri lawmakers passed a budget last week that spends millions in state money to block Planned Parenthood from accessing federal funding.
The plan puts Missouri alongside at least a dozen other states in a national effort to strip public money from the country’s largest abortion provider. The federal government says states don’t have the authority to steer Medicaid funding away from Planned Parenthood, and courts have blocked some of those efforts.
But Missouri’s budget writers say eliminating federal dollars from women’s health programs means federal restrictions no longer apply.
The Legislature rejected more than $8.3 million in federal Medicaid funding the state was slated to receive for family planning, sexually transmitted disease testing and pelvic exams at county health departments, other clinics and Planned Parenthood.
They replaced it with money from Missouri’s general revenues, leaving the total unchanged at $10.8 million, and stipulated that none of it could go to organizations that provide abortions, as Planned Parenthood does.
When lawmakers initially proposed blocking Medicaid payments from Planned Parenthood in March, budget staffers estimated less than $400,000 in Medicaid payments go to Missouri’s 13 Planned Parenthood clinics for procedures and drugs. Cont.
Story from - The Kansas City Star
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