Lawmakers discuss stopping Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood during the first day of special session

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The first day of a special session was held at the State Capitol with the goal of extending a tax that helps fund Medicaid and stop Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood.

Senators discussed that taxpayer dollars should not be spent on funding Planned Parenthood or certain methods of contraception. They argued contraceptives were instruments of abortion.

For the last decade, every session senators vote to renew the Federal Reimbursement Allowance. The FRA has always been the same but this year is different.

This year the legislation wants to prohibit Medicaid funding for abortion drugs, devices, and abortion facilities.

Senator Bob Onder argued today that the FRA needed these limits on payments for contraceptives because of changes to the federal budget. He pleaded with the anti-abortion senators in the senate chambers asking them to uphold their campaign promises.

"It's a violation of the rules of this chamber an abuse of the rules of this chamber, and it would be a violation of the promises we made to the pro-life Missourians who sent us here," Onder said.

Onder said that the new legislation was added because the Hyde Amendment was not in Joe Biden's 2022 session. Onder argued it also changed because the Supreme Court ruled last June, that they could no longer defund abortion providers in their budget.

Republican Senator Andrew Koenig said that taxpayer money going towards abortions is not appropriate.

"The FRA funding is something we need to renew, but I want to make sure we are not funding abortions with the money," Koenig said.

Democratic Senator Brian Williams said the new legislation is a political tactic, disagreeing with his senate counterparts.

"Historically we've passed a clean FRA bill, it's been the same for decades now. And to think that my Republican colleagues want to put Missourian's health care on the line by pandering to partisan politics is wrong," Williams said.

Williams said his Republican colleagues were political pandering.

"I mean as simple as political pandering, it's not about policy, it's not about moving our state forward right now, we're going to miss out on billions of dollars, simply because we have some folks that want to make this about birth control and abortion, which this is about access to quality health care," Williams said.

Williams said senators should not be making decisions on what women or anyone do with their bodies.

Planned Parenthood held a meeting this morning discussing the benefits of contraceptives and the harm it would do if the new legislation was passed.

Elizabeth Allemann, MD, spoke at the meeting voicing her opinions on the new legislation.

"Contraception prevents pregnancy including these methods that the legislature is considering limiting, it doesn't interrupt a pregnancy. Statements in the law should be true and the statements in the proposed language imply that contraceptives is the same as abortion and this is misleading and it's not based on evidence," Allemann said.

Rachel Sweet with Planned Parenthood said that lawmakers are making this about abortion when it is not the case.

"The act like this is an issue about abortion when in reality this is not how those things work. Plan B and IUD'S prevent pregnancy, they do not end it," Sweet said.

Sweet said Planned Parenthood believes this is an issue that should not be up for debate in the state legislature.