|
Senate Passes House Bill Defunding Planned Parenthood, Clearing the Way for Further Debate on the Budget
The big news this week is that the Senate passed HB 2634, sponsored by Rep. Cody Smith (R-Carthage), after Senate Democrats mounted a lengthy filibuster. The bill would prohibit public funds going “to any abortion facility, or to any affiliate of such abortion facility”.
The passage of HB 2634 clears the way for the Senate to take up and pass the budget and the FRA tax bill, a critical piece of legislation that taxes hospitals, nursing homes, ambulances, and pharmacies to raise state revenue to pay for healthcare services as a way of drawing down additional federal dollars for healthcare. Re-authorizing the FRA tax is critical to ensuring a stable state budget, as it accounts for billions of dollars in the budget.
In recent years, efforts have been made to add the “defund Planned Parenthood” language to bills re-authorizing the FRA tax, because it is a must-pass piece of legislation. Those efforts, however, have failed. The last time this was attempted, the legislature had to come back to Jefferson City for a special session to pass the FRA tax bill in the fall of 2021. At that time, it was passed with a three-year extension, pushing the issue into the 2024 session for further consideration.
Freedom Caucus members in the Senate, along with pro-life organizations, have made defunding Planned Parenthood a legislative priority in the past years, and did so again this year, asking again that this language be included in the FRA tax bill. Senate leadership saw passage of a separate bill with the “defund” language as a way to tackle the issue without putting the FRA tax bill in jeopardy.
Over the years, courts have largely rejected language defunding Planned Parenthood in the Medicaid program, because Medicaid requires states to allow patients to choose their provider, so long as that provider isn’t disqualified as a provider, or guilty of malfeasance. In support of passage of HB 2634, Missouri Right to Life submitted a memo to lawmakers this week dated April 9th stating that video evidence documents that Planned Parenthood is engaged in illegal activity in Missouri by “taking minors across state lines and undermining parental rights.”
HB 2634 was amended on the Senate floor and must go back to the Missouri House for further consideration. The Senate has until May 10th to complete work on the budget.
|
