More Republican Idiocy
Posted Thursday, June 23, 2016 05:52 PM

Republicans would rather encourage Zika than let Planned Parenthood distribute birth control pills

By  on Thu, Jun 23, 2016 at 3:54 PM, Arkanas Times

click to enlargeVOX
  • VOX

Look what the Republican-majority U.S. House did late last night amid the Democratic sit-in.

They passed a bill to provide emergency money for the Zika crisis, but conditioned  the bill on no money going to Planned Parenthood. 

As Vox notes: Planned Parenthood distributes a significant amount of birth control pills in a $95 million government-backed program. Zika, which can cause birth defects, can be sexually transmitted. Birth control would be a good thing for prevention.

But, not Republicans in Congress decree, if the birth control is distributed by Planned Parenthood.

Again: Why do Republicans hate women, or at least hate providing them with medical autonomy and access to comprehensive health care?

Don't believe your Arkansas Republican congressmen when they try to claim there are ample other sources of this medicine. There aren't. PP is an important part of the delivery system. Wrote Sarah Kliff in an earlier Vox article:
 
Planned Parenthood plays a big role in women's reproductive health care in America for two reasons: It has hundreds of clinics, and those clinics tend to serve a higher number of patients than other health-care providers.

About one in six American counties — 491 counties in total — have a Planned Parenthood clinic. Taken together, they see about 2.6 million patients annually.
Oh, sure some will be OK:
 

Higher-income women will find alternatives. But a sizable minority of Planned Parenthood's patients, particularly low-income women, would lose access to medical services.