Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson vowed Wednesday to use state dollars to plug a hole Republicans left by barring Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood services in their sweeping tax cut and spending bill.
“The one thing we have to do is make sure that individuals in our state have access to the critical, critical services provided by Planned Parenthood,” Ferguson said in a press conference outside one of the organization’s clinics in Seattle.
The moratorium took effect when President Donald Trump signed his so-called “big, beautiful bill” into law Friday. The provision lasts one year.
This week, a federal judge in Massachusetts temporarily directed the Trump administration to continue the flow of funding to Planned Parenthood, which on top of abortions provides access to birth control and screenings for cancer and sexually transmitted infections at health centers across the country.
Federal Medicaid funding can’t pay for abortions except in cases where the pregnancy endangers the mother or is the product of rape or incest.
The judicial order lasts two weeks. The case brought by Planned Parenthood will continue through the courts.
If the legal fight isn’t successful, Ferguson committed to backfilling the $11 million Planned Parenthood in Washington stands to lose. He said he would divert the money from the state Health Care Authority.
This comes not long after Ferguson signed a new budget from lawmakers that cut state funding for an abortion care program by more than half. Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates called that reduction “devastating.”
The group’s CEO, Jennifer Allen, said Wednesday that “this is not the moment when the federal government should be coming in and interfering with our state’s values and with our patients’ access to badly needed health care.”
“We are here for our patients,” she continued. “We are undaunted, but it does take money to provide care, and this is a hit on Planned Parenthood and on our state.”
Allen applauded Ferguson’s promise, and said many other states aren’t as fortunate.
In Washington, Planned Parenthood’s 30 health centers serve over 100,000 patients each year. Medicaid covers nearly half of them, according to the nonprofit. Planned Parenthood has previously closed clinics in Washington due to low Medicaid reimbursement rates.
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