WASHINGTON, DC – Recently, Congressman Cloud introduced a bill to allow states to exclude providers of elective abortions from their state’s Medicaid Program. This bill, the Women’s Public Health and Safety Act, is being co-led in the Senate by Senator Lankford.

A non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) report revealed that Planned Parenthood received nearly $1.3 billion in Medicaid reimbursements over a three-year period, accounting for 81 percent of the abortion provider’s joint federal-state funding stream. 

Cloud was joined by Congressmen Andy Ogles, Robert Aderholt, Bob Good, Lauren Boebert, Brian Mast, Ronny Jackson, Christopher Smith, Jim Baird, Russ Fulcher, Mary Miller, Ashley Hinson, Michael Waltz, Dan Bishop, Rick Allen, John Moolenaar, Andrew Clyde, Andy Biggs, Mike Johnson, and Diana Harshbarger. 

“For too long, abortion providers have operated on the taxpayers’ dime, while performing elective abortions in the name of ‘healthcare,’” said Congressman Cloud. “Sixty percent of Americans object to taxpayer-funded abortions. Yet abortion providers, like Planned Parenthood, have access to billions in state Medicaid dollars — which the taxpayer reimburses at 90 percent for family planning services. Sen. Lankford and I are seeking to empower states to end federal subsidies for abortion providers and to ensure quality healthcare is made available to women.”

“Abortion is not health care,” said Senator Lankford. “It should not be controversial to say that taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to support abortion providers. States should have the right to decide that Medicaid funds will not support an abortion provider’s bottom line. This bill is just one solution that we can advance to stand up for the self-evident fact that all children have value and—to ensure our government values every life, at every stage.”

The bill is supported by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, CatholicVote, March for Life, Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, Americans United for Life, Students for Life Action, National Right to Life, Family Research Council, Family Policy Alliance, Faith and Freedom Coalition, and Ethics and Public Policy Center HHS Accountability Project.

###