INDReporter

Jindal targets working-poor women

by Walter Pierce

Photo by Michael Vadon/Wikimedia

In his quixotic bid for the White House, former Gov. Booby Jindal has voided Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid provider contracts with the state of Louisiana. The action comes following the release of heavily edited, intentionally misleading undercover videos posted by an anti-abortion group — videos that Jindal cited in Monday’s announcement.

As the Associated Press reports, “Planned Parenthood doesn’t provide abortions in Louisiana, but does offer family planning services, cervical exams and gynecology services to women in Baton Rouge and New Orleans.”

The former governor’s decision came within hours of the U.S. Senate voting — along party lines — against a plan to de-fund the family planning nonprofit. And while Jindal’s action will likely have no effect on Planned Parenthood’s financial status, it will could mean that hundreds or even thousands of poor and working-poor women in Louisiana will go without vital reproductive health services including cancer screenings and access to contraception, which prevents unwanted pregnancies and abortions. But as we’ve previously seen with the former governor’s stubborn refusal to expand Medicaid to some 250,000 working-poor Louisianans through the Affordable Care Act, Jindal’s political aspirations trump all other concerns.

Not to be out-demagogued, governor hopeful and Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle on Tuesday released a statement vowing to cancel all state contracts with PP, saying he's "putting Planned Parenthood on notice."