Local Planned Parenthood officials to fight to preserve federal funding

Officials with Planned Parenthood in Southern Nevada are planning a public relations and political battle to try and block a cutoff of federal funding proposed by Republican congressional leaders.

“We’re going to fight back, and we’re not going to let them shut us down,” said Samantha Fredrickson, a spokeswoman for the Las Vegas-based group.

Fredrickson said leaders of the local nonprofit plan to work with Nevada’s mostly Democratic congressional delegation to block the defunding of Planned Parenthood nationally, which would include elimination of the organization’s Medicaid reimbursements.

She said the local group also will ask state legislators to pass a bill providing funding for family planning services, including birth control, which could provide some help if the federal funding disappears.

That will be a tough task and would require the Democrat-controlled state Senate and Assembly to find or redirect money in Gov. Brian Sandoval’s budget.

Planned Parenthood will also drum up public support by taking part in the Las Vegas Women’s March downtown on Jan. 21, coinciding with a similar march in Washington, D.C.

‘GOING BACKWARD’

“I think it’s unfortunate that we have to keep fighting these battles,” Fredrickson said. “We just keep going backward.”

She said the local organization — part of the regional Rocky Mountains affiliate of the national organization — provides care to 14,000 patients annually at its two Southern Nevada clinics.

With providing some contraceptives at low- or no-cost, the clinics offer wellness exams, screenings for sexually transmitted infections and other services on a sliding scale to its mostly female clientele.

Planned Parenthood’s most controversial offering is abortion services, which are what landed it in the crosshairs of congressional Republicans. Allegations that the organizations was profiting from the sale of fetal tissue for research purposes fueled the drive to deprive it of federal funding.

Loss of federal funding would take a big bite out of Planned Parenthood’s budget. Nationally the organization provides care for about 2.5 million patients a year, 1.5 million of whom receive care via Medicaid or Title X funding — federal funding that allows the organization to offer discounted family planning services, Fredrickson said.

For the fiscal year that ended in June 2015, about $554 million of Planned Parenthood’s $1.3 billion in revenue came from government grants and reimbursements, according to a budget breakdown from the national organization.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., said Thursday that language eliminating federal funding for Planned Parenthood will be included in legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s signature health care legislation, which is expected to be introduced soon.

Reps. Dina Titus and Jacky Rosen, both Democrats from Southern Nevada, pilloried the move to eliminate the federal funding, saying it will deprive women of affordable health care services.

“This is another baseless attack in the GOP’s war on women that threatens access to preventive care and cancer screenings, contraceptive, and, in some cases, a woman’s only health care provider,” Titus said in a statement.

Logan Ramsey, a spokeswoman for Rep. Mark Amodei, the only Republican U.S. House representative from Nevada, said he has not yet taken a position on the bill because the language has not been finalized.

Some Republicans, including former Rep. Joe Heck, argue that by cutting funding to Planned Parenthood, the government could increase funding to community health centers that also serve low-income and underserved populations but don’t provide abortion services.

‘STOP CRYING’

In Nevada, however, community health providers have difficulty providing reproductive care services, Fredrickson said. For example, Nevada Health Centers announced in September plans to discontinue its Clark County obstetrics program due to “financial challenges.”

Planned Parenthood volunteer and patient Rachel Siota, 24, drew on her own experience to illustrate what she said is the important role the local organization plays for young women.

The Las Vegas resident said she was diagnosed at 19 with endometriosis, a disorder that affects how uterine tissue grows.

While dealing with severe pain that sometimes left her crawling to the restroom, she said she struggled to find a doctor who could help her.

“I had one doctor basically tell me, ‘Stop crying, I’m not a magician,’” she said.

Last year, she said she sought out services at Planned Parenthood and was provided an intrauterine device to reduce the pain and help with other symptoms.

“It was amazing something that small or that simple could give me my life back,” she said.

Contact Pashtana Usufzy at pusufzy@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4563. Find @pashtana_u on Twitter.