GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin will pause scheduling abortion appointments starting Oct. 1 as the organization determines how to move forward under a federal court ruling that blocks Medicaid funding to abortion providers.
The temporary hold comes after a federal appeals court ruled in favor of a provision in President Donald Trump's tax and spending bill that cuts Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers in Wisconsin.
Medical professionals express concerns
Dr. Kristin Lyerly, an OB/GYN, says the decision creates additional barriers for women seeking healthcare.
"Barrier after barrier after barrier, I know the medical thing to do for them, I know how to help them from a medical perspective," Lyerly says. "But from a political perspective? In Wisconsin, there are so many things that we can't do."
Lyerly emphasizes that the funding cuts affect more than just abortion services.
"Women and other people who don't have insurance through their employer, who otherwise can't get access to care, they can get that care at Planned Parenthood," she says. "And if they don't get it there, they are not going to get it. And if they do not get it? They aren't going to have good health...in the short term or the long term."
Abortion services represent small portion of care
According to Planned Parenthood, just 4% of their services are for abortions, with the vast majority being STI testing, treatment and other healthcare-related needs.
Congressional representative supports funding cuts
U.S. Representative Glenn Grothman, who represents Wisconsin's 6th Congressional District where a Planned Parenthood clinic operates, supports the funding restrictions.
"The reason Planned Parenthood is affected is because they are taking federal Medicaid dollars, and if they are going to take federal Medicaid dollars, they are not allowed to do that and fund the abortions," Grothman says.
Grothman says he has broader opposition to the organization's mission.
"I think Planned Parenthood is a bad organization, not only because of the abortions, but so far as, I would say, push promiscuity on very young people," Grothman says. "And they're very much involved in this 'transgender' stuff as well."
He says he welcomes the reduction in services.
"And so far as if they have less influence on society? All the better," Grothman says/
Recent history of abortion access
The pause on abortion scheduling comes just over two years after Planned Parenthood announced it would resume providing abortions in Wisconsin. That decision, therein, followed 15 months without access to abortions during legal uncertainty proceeding the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health.
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