Life

Planned Parenthood Cashes In on Medicaid Money Meant for Elderly and Disabled, Report Shows

Abortion providers like Planned Parenthood are cashing in on Medicaid money meant for elderly and disabled Americans, a new report from the American Family Association (AFA) shows.  

States receive tens of billions of dollars from the federal government every year to run Medicaid programs; state taxpayers contribute several billion more.

But according to AFA’s “Displacing the Disabled: How Medicaid funds abortion providers and leaves disabled kids waiting,” thousands of Americans and their families across forty states are languishing on waitlists for Medicaid-funded Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS).

State HCBS programs subsidize in-home care for the elderly, disabled and mentally ill. For parents like Anja and Nate Baker, they are a necessity.

The Bakers are proud parents of three boys — six-year-old Locke, four-year-old Herschel and one-year-old Fulton. Herschel suffers from cerebral palsy, epilepsy and several other conditions related to brain injury.

Baker family photo courtesy of Anja Baker

“[Herschel] requires a wheelchair and g-tube feeding and cannot independently sit, stand, use the bathroom or speak,” Anja tells the Daily Citizen. “As a result, he requires around the clock care for all his needs.”

Without Mississippi Medicaid’s Disabled Child at Home program, Anja says she and Nate would not be able to afford the fifteen different medical providers and therapists Herschel needs to thrive.

“As a family, we have reorganized our lives around Herschel’s medical care,” she explains. “Without his Medicaid coverage, we could never afford to care for him.”

With Medicaid’s help, the Bakers get to watch Herschel grow and impact the people around him.

“Herschel loves time at church, especially music and fellowship time with friends.” Anja tells us. “We know he has impacted the faith of many people and will continue to do so as long as he’s able to share his light with the world.”

“We pray that we can keep Herschel’s life as comfortable and joy-filled as possible for as long as the Lord lets us have him.”

Baker boys courtesy of Anja Baker

Families like the Bakers can’t financially, physically or emotionally afford to be waitlisted for Medicaid. But that’s what happens when Medicaid funding is spread across an increasingly broad array of services — including those offered by abortion giants like Planned Parenthood.

AFA’s “Displacing the Disabled” report compiles data on twenty states with HCBS waitlists and abortion providers that accept Medicaid. The findings highlight an unacceptable incongruency: While vulnerable Americans await critical Medicaid support, Planned Parenthood entities and other abortion providers are collecting two streams of government income — federal grants and Medicaid reimbursements.

These funds free up millions of dollars Planned Parenthood and company use not only to perform abortions, but to lobby for pro-abortion policies, indoctrinate children into gender ideology and pay their executives’ six-figure salaries.

“For [HCBS programs] to be deprived of resources while the money instead funds the abortion industry is sickening,” Anja says.

“The abortion lobby sees no value in a child like Herschel; Planned Parenthood would rather see [him] and his school and church friends never born.”

She concludes:

This funding issue highlights a stark reality — the abortion industry neither wants to see disabled children born, nor their lives extended or cared for while they are here.
This contrast [proves] they aren’t just anti-life, they are pro-death.

AFA hopes the “Displacing the Disabled” report and stories like the Baker family’s will hammer home the importance of ensuring welfare programs serve the people who need them most.

“Healthcare resources are not infinite,” Dr. Jameson Taylor, the Director of AFA’s Center for Governmental Renewal explains.  “Medicaid can’t cover everything or everyone.”

He continues:

When you look at the services Medicaid could cover in each state, I believe providing care for vulnerable individuals should be a priority while funneling money to abortion providers shouldn’t be on the list.

The Daily Citizen categorically agrees.

To read AFA’s full report, click here.

Additional Articles and Resources

Senate Unveils Budget Bill to Defund Planned Parenthood

Proposed Budget Bill Defunds Abortion Providers Like Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood Uses Taxes to Pay for Abortion, Radical Sex Ed

Planned Parenthood Receives Millions of Dollars Through Federal ‘Family Planning’ Grants

Planned Parenthood Earns $2 Billion Killing Over 400,000 Babies, Annual Report Shows

Planned Parenthood Offers ‘Sexual Health Resources’ for All, Aided by Sacramento Libraries

Surprise, Surprise — Planned Parenthood Gave Children Explicit Coloring Books

Montana Supreme Court Strikes Down Abortion Laws, Pro-Life Group Challenges Decision

Montana’s Supreme Court recently struck down three pro-life laws, deeming them “unconstitutional.”

The laws included:

  • House Bill 136, which would have outlawed abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy (except if necessary to protect the mother’s health).
  • House Bill 140, which would have required abortion providers to give patients the option of hearing their baby’s heartbeat or seeing an ultrasound.
  • House Bill 171, which would have limited access to abortion pills.

All three laws were initially signed by Montana Governor Greg Gianforte in 2021, but Planned Parenthood was quick to oppose them.

Justice Beth Baker argued the bills violated Montana women’s right to privacy. She claimed the Armstrong Decision (a 1999 Montana Supreme Court ruling), protected mothers’ access to abortion before a fetus is viable,

“Armstrong thus explicitly and unequivocally acknowledged that the right of individual privacy — encompassing the right to personal and procreative autonomy — is protected separately under Montana’s right to privacy, a broader provision independent of federal law.”

However, the state previously argued this 1999 ruling was wrongly decided and has tried to overturn it several times. Gov. Gianforte and Attorney General Austin Knudsen are continuing that fight in this case.

In a statement criticizing the ruling, Gov. Gianforte said:

Clinging to a shaky, outdated ruling and failing to account for the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions, these activist justices aren’t interpreting the law. They’re overreaching, making law from the bench and rejecting the will of Montanans’ duly-elected representatives who make laws.

Montana Representative Amy Reiger, who sponsored the bill giving mothers the option to view an ultrasound, said the law aimed to provide women with “good, informed consent.”

She added, “I would say this bill does protect women … My question to Planned Parenthood is, ‘What are you afraid of expecting mothers seeing?'”

In 2024, 58% of Montana voters approved the decision to include abortion rights in Montana’s constitution, ultimately leading to these three laws being struck down.

The Montana Family Foundation (MFF), a Focus on the Family-allied state family policy council, filed a lawsuit on June 9 challenging the addition of abortion rights to the Montana constitution.

The MFF claims that voters who registered on Election Day did not receive enough information on the issue, as the ballot only contained a summary. The full text describing the inclusion of abortion rights had been previously mailed to registered voters.

Let us hope truth will prevail in this case, and the rights of preborn babies and their mothers will be protected by Montana lawmakers.

Related Articles and Resources

Focus on the Family: Pro-Life

Pregnancy Resource Centers Fight Against Mandatory Abortion Referrals in Illinois

Pro-Life, Free Speech Win: Federal Appeals Court Blocks Kentucky ‘Buffer Zone’ Ordinance

Proposed Budget Bill Defunds Abortion Providers Like Planned Parenthood

Arkansas Allocates $2 Million to Pregnancy Help Organizations

Image from Shutterstock.

Pregnancy Resource Centers Fight Against Mandatory Abortion Referrals in Illinois

The hard-fought battle to protect the rights of pregnant mothers and their preborn babies continued last week in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) v. Treto.

NIFLA disputes an Illinois law that forces pro-life pregnancy resource centers to refer pregnant women for abortions, arguing it violates their right to free speech.

Illinois courts have hotly debated the free speech rights of pregnancy resource centers for some seven years.

Attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) appealed NIFLA’s case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit on May 29 following an April court ruling declaring that forcing pro-life pregnancy centers to refer their clients for abortions does not violate speech or conscience rights.  

In the same ruling, however, the court permanently blocked an Illinois law requiring pro-life pregnancy resource centers to promote abortion and its possible “benefits.” Judges found the law an unconstitutional infringement on the pregnancy centers’ freedom of speech – a stark contradiction to their previous assessment of pregnancy resource centers’ free speech rights.

“No one should be forced to express a message that violates their convictions, and compelling people to refer others for abortions does that,” said ADF Senior Counsel Erin Hawley. She continued, “The U.S. Supreme Court held in NIFLA v. Becerra that forcing people to promote abortion is unconstitutional.”

Pro-life pregnancy centers must be free to continue their life-affirming work without fear of government punishment.

While the lower court correctly ruled that these centers can’t be forced to advertise the so-called ‘benefits’ of abortion, it failed to protect them from being compelled to refer for abortion.

In their appeal, NIFLA’s attorneys explain the district court erred by arguing mandatory abortion referrals are standard healthcare practice, and do not implicate “speech” at all.

Yet, to refer pregnant women for abortions, healthcare professionals must provide the expecting mothers with written information on abortion providers and procedures. These documents constitute speech.

The appeal states:

Laws that compel individuals to speak when they’d prefer to remain silent “pose the inherent risk that the Government” may seek to “manipulate the public debate through coercion.”

This is especially so when government-coerced speech compels individuals to be complicit in a medical procedure that violates their most deeply held beliefs.

In situations such as these when the court contradicts itself, we can be thankful truth never changes — especially when it comes to believers’ duty to protect the rights of preborn children and their mothers.

This case is National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Treto.

Related Articles and Resources

Focus on the Family: Pro-Life

Become An Option Ultrasound Life Advocate

My Choice Network

Stepping Up to Defend Life

Alternatives to Abortion: Pregnancy Resource Centers

America Needs Convictional Pro-Life Politicians

Planned Parenthood Earns $2 Billion Killing Over 400,000 Babies, Annual Report Shows

Cruz, Smith Push Congress to Make June ‘Life Month’

Senator Ted Cruz (TX) and Congressman Chris Smith (NJ) introduced a Congressional resolution this week to make June “Life Month.”

The “Life Month Resolution” (H.J. Res. 98) would commemorate the fall of Roe v. Wade, which the Supreme Court overturned on June 24, 2022; honor those fighting to protect preborn babies; and reaffirm America’s commitment to defend life, Cruz and Smith explain.

 “Life is not an accident, and it’s not a coincidence,” Cruz addressed the Senate during the resolution’s introduction Thursday. “It’s a joy and a blessing from God, the foundation of every other right we hold dear.”

In an announcement released Tuesday, Smith expounded, “This resolution affirms that the cruel injustice of abortion need not be forever; Instead, we must defend the [pre]born and show love and compassion to both mother and child through meaningful assistance and support.”

H.J. Res. 98 calls for the creation of June “Life Month” in light of the following facts:

  • Every human life is equally valuable and protected under the law.
  • America’s founding documents explicitly affirm the equality of all people and their inalienable right to life.
  • American citizens and their representatives are responsible for protecting the rights of vulnerable people, including preborn babies.
  • The Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade restored citizens and elected leaders’ rightful ability to protect preborn life.
  • “Faith-based and community organizations, pregnancy resource centers, medical professionals and countless families across the United States” play essential roles in creating a culture of life.

In his remarks on the Senate floor, Cruz highlighted Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court decision that reversed Roe, as an important inflection point in America’s journey back to its founding, life-affirming values.

“[Roe] was a flawed decision that, for nearly fifty years, enshrined one of the most disturbing notions in our Constitutional history – that the Constitution somehow protects the right to end the life of an [pre]born child,” Cruz summarized.

He continued, “The fact is Roe had nothing to do with the Constitution. … It was the product of judicial activism. That dangerous path took decades to correct.”

Three years later, H.J. Res. 98 not only calls for the symbolic designation of “Life Month,” but for senators and representatives to:

  • “Recognize that every human life is a sacred gift from God, possessing inherent dignity and worth.
  • “Reaffirm the fundamental truth recognized in the Declaration of Independence that life is an unalienable right.
  • “Commend individuals, parents, families, faith-based organizations and communities who work to promote a culture of life.
  • “Urge policymakers to defend the sanctity of human life by enacting laws that protect the unborn and provide resources to empower women and families to choose life.”

The resolution’s language might anger leaders who characterize abortion as “health care,” or a “reproductive right.” But the goal isn’t to indulge the rhetorical games of a radical few. It’s to reaffirm America’s commitment to human dignity and reorient the government toward building a culture of life.

“Let June be the month that we reconnect with the American ideal that every single life has dignity,” Cruz exhorted. “That we are a nation, not of death, but of life — a nation that chooses life.”

Congress isn’t known for its strong stance on protecting life. But cultural renewal starts small.

Focus on the Family and myriad pro-life allies pray Congress will choose life by making June “Life Month.”

Additional Articles and Resources

My Choice Network

Counseling Consultation Request Form

Considering Abortion?

Focus on the Family Pro-Life

Option Ultrasound Program

Support Your Local, Pro-life Pregnancy Medical Clinic

Alternatives to Abortion: Pregnancy Resource Centers

Hopeful Choice: What is a Pregnancy Help Center? 

Melissa Ohden: An Abortion Survivor Inspires Compassionate Pro-Life Engagement

Overcoming Abortion and Becoming a Force for Life

America Needs Convictional Pro-Life Politicians

Human Life is Intrinsically Valuable — A Critique of ‘The Embryo Question’

Over 3,500 People March for Life at the Colorado State Capitol

Gen Z Women Rejected Pro-Abortion Messaging in 2024, Election Data Shows 

VP Vance Addresses March for Life: ‘Every Child is a Gift From God’

Young Person Talks to Young People at National March for Life

What Actually Happened in ‘Dobbs’? A Short Explanation.

RFK Jr. Announces ‘Complete Review’ of Abortion Pill After ‘Alarming’ New Study Reveals Dangers

The Food and Drug Administration will perform a ‘complete review’ of the abortion medication mifepristone, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Thursday in a Senate health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing.

RFK Jr.’s announcement was in response to a line of questioning by Senator Josh Hawley.

Hawley asked the secretary if he was aware of the recently released study by the Ethics and Public Policy Center investigating the over 865,000 mifepristone chemical abortions between 2017 and 2023.

The study revealed that nearly 11% of women who take the pill experience very serious adverse effects including sepsis, hemorrhaging, infection, and emergency room visits.

The rate is 22 times higher than the FDA’s current label, which suggests the rate of adverse effects is only 0.5%.

Secretary Kennedy confirmed that he had seen the study and acknowledged the data was “alarming” and that, at the very least, the label should be updated to reflect its true danger to women.

He then explained he has instructed the director of the FDA to do a “complete review” of the chemical abortion pill and report back to him with the findings.

Secretary Kennedy confirmed the review is a top priority, but didn’t have a deadline for when the work will be finished.

Senator Hawley also asked whether long-standing safety protocols, which were previously required when dispensing mifepristone (like doctor visits, in-person dispensing and screening for ectopic pregnancies), would be reinstated.

Secretary Kennedy clarified that HHS would make recommendations based on the data, but the ultimate decision would come from the White House.

According to Hawley, the Ethics and Public Policy Center’s study on mifepristone is the largest study ever performed on the abortion drug.

President of Focus on the Family, Jim Daly, called the results of the study “chilling” and lamented the abortion industry’s apparent lack of concern about the babies or the women they harm.

For more than half-a-century, the radical abortion industry has been diminishing and discounting the health risks to unsuspecting women whenever preborn life is taken. All those who claim to be advocates for women should be alarmed and convicted by this new research.
We know the abortion kills the girl or boy on the inside, and now research makes clear it also harms the woman on the outside.

A coalition of organizations in the pro-life community have issued a letter asking Secretary Kennedy to reinstate safety protections for women who are prescribed the abortion pill.

The Daily Citizen will continue to update you on this developing story.