Planned Parenthood stated Friday that, while the Biden-Harris administration is “on the right track” in making policy it considers essential, the organization is looking for even “bolder” moves in the days ahead.
As President Joe Biden marks his first 100 days in office, Planned Parenthood, both the largest provider of abortions in the nation and now the second largest provider of transgender hormone treatments, said in a press announcement “there are increasing signs that the country is on the right track.”
“Planned Parenthood and our supporters have been paying close attention to the Biden-Harris administration’s actions in its first 100 days, and we’re encouraged by what we’ve seen so far,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, Planned Parenthood CEO, lamenting further about the policies put in place by the pro-life Trump administration:
The administration’s steps to undo the harm of the past four years and support sexual and reproductive health care are a promising start — but the work has only just begun. Planned Parenthood is ready to work with both the administration and Congress, and push for bolder policies every step of the way.
In its statement, Planned Parenthood alleged that “people of color, those with low incomes, and the LGBTQ+ community” are still requiring “access to health care, sexual and reproductive care, and other basic human rights” that “remain out of reach.”
All of those identified groups are a primary source of clients for Planned Parenthood. The organization is especially pushing the Biden-Harris administration and Democrats in Congress to assure taxpayer Medicaid funds may now be used to pay for abortions and transgender hormone treatments at its clinics.
“Medicaid is the largest payer of reproductive health care in the country,” Jacqueline Ayers, Planned Parenthood vice president of government relations and public policy, said, according to Ms. magazine.
“And black, Latino, LGBTQ, low-income folks are disproportionately enrolled in the program and rely on this program,” she added.
Planned Parenthood lists the following as “accomplishments” of the first 100 days of the Biden-Harris administration:
- Move to reverse the Trump administration’s Protect Life Rule that created a clear boundary between abortion and family planning.
- Passage of the American Rescue Plan Act which, Ayers said, “does incentivize states to expand Medicaid coverage by allowing increased federal funds.”
The legislation did not include the Hyde and Helms Amendments, which have traditionally prohibited taxpayer monies from funding abortions in the United States and overseas, respectively. Pro-life leaders consider the measure a bail-out for the abortion industry.
- The FDA’s announcement it will be lifting restrictions on the health and safety standards applied to abortion-inducing drugs, allowing for their dispensation via telemedicine and through the mail.
- Biden’s executive order revoking the pro-life policy known as the Mexico City Policy, which bans foreign organizations that receive U.S. financial aid from promoting or performing abortions as a method of family planning.
Planned Parenthood referred to the Mexico City Policy as “neocolonialist.”
- Prioritizing black maternal health care.
- Appointing abortion “champions” such as Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra, assistant HHS secretary Rachel Levine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and U.N. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
- Establishment of a Gender Policy Council.
Planned Parenthood said it will push in the days to come for budgets that “eliminate[s] the Hyde and Helms amendments and related restrictions on abortion,” and ones that also increase “funding for sexual and reproductive health care programs at home and abroad.”
Additionally, the abortion and transgender industry giant said it will seek an immediate end to “policies that target immigrant communities, their health care, and families,” and to bolster efforts to ensure Medicaid patients are able to obtain their services at Planned Parenthood facilities, a goal that would allow Planned Parenthood even greater access to taxpayer funding.