WWAV Statement on Jindal Administration Cutting Medicaid Funding to Planned Parenthood
Defunding Creates Barriers to Services for Low-Income Women and Women of Color
In a move that will threaten the health of low-income women and other marginalized women across the state of Louisiana, Governor Bobby Jindal announced Monday that the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) will be ending its Medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood.
Governor Jindal’s announcement came as the U.S. Senate voted 53 – 46 against advancing a bill that would have ended federal Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood. The renewed right-wing targeting of Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers across the country has resulted in a deep attack on women’s health and rights, which could consequently prevent thousands of poor women from accessing preventative health care.
The reproductive health crisis is dire in Louisiana. Women in the New Orleans metro area, especially Black women, experience multiple negative reproductive and sexual health outcomes, such as high rates of infant mortality, chronic diseases, and HIV/AIDS. Louisiana ranks third highest in the nation for estimated HIV case rates; the cities of New Orleans and Baton Rouge rank third and second, respectively. In New Orleans African-American women bear the brunt of HIV and STI infections and AIDS deaths. They also face high rates of HPV infection, cervical cancer, and chronic illnesses like diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension.
Denying state Medicaid funds to health centers in Louisiana means creating more barriers for low-income women needing access to contraception, well-woman visits, Pap smears, STI testing and treatment, birth control counseling, and other sexual and reproductive health services. In Louisiana, Planned Parenthood annually has 16,000 visits in both Baton Rouge and New Orleans for reproductive health services that include sexual health education, contraception, cancer screenings, STD tests and treatment, and more.
“Our state is playing games with the lives of poor women and women of color,” said Deon Haywood, the executive director of Women With a Vision, Inc. (WWAV). “Ending the Medicaid contract creates even more barriers to needed reproductive health care services in a state with some of the highest health disparities in the nation. This is an outright attack on poor women.”
Founded in 1989, WWAV is a community-based non-profit working to improve the lives of marginalized women, their families, and communities by addressing the social conditions and punitive policies that hinder their health and well-being. WWAV has been providing sexual and reproductive health education and outreach to marginalized communities for decades in New Orleans, and the organization’s staff has witnessed the severe lack of resources and services for poor communities of color. WWAV calls on Louisiana lawmakers to support and fund access to high-quality reproductive health services and sexual health information, including access to safe birth control, comprehensive sexual health education, and abortion services.
#####