Bill signed Thursday would allow states to block some funding from Planned Parenthood
President Donald Trump signed a bill into law Thursday that allows states to withhold some family planning funding from healthcare providers.
Planned Parenthoods and other clinics in Michiana could experience changes from this.
The funding in question is Title X, and states can now withhold it from agencies that provide abortions.
It would affect Planned Parenthood facilities that don’t provide abortions as well, because they still fall under the organization’s name.
Indiana has made attempts to block state funding from Planned Parenthood in the past, but was stopped by courts.
CEO of Indiana and Kentucky Planned Parenthood, Betty Cockrum, says the Title X funding doesn’t even go toward abortions, but instead goes to birth control and female health treatment.
She says by losing this funding, abortions could actually increase.
“We all would prefer to see the incidents of abortion go down you do that with family planning. You do that with education and access to birth control. You don’t do it by unplugging providers across the country who don’t have any other service providers in the area to step up and take the place of those health centers,” Cockrum said.
The bill won’t immediately affect Indiana or Michigan. Changes wouldn’t be noticed until steps are taken to defund clinics at a statewide level.