Eliminating federal funding for Planned Parenthood, as some members of Congress urge, would only make it harder for low-income women in medically underserved communities to obtain healthcare, warns a commentary in the journal Women’s Health Issues. The piece notes that while the Affordable Care Act has allowed many women to gain insurance that covers contraception and other preventive care without cost-sharing, accessing healthcare services is still difficult for those in areas with few healthcare providers. The authors explain that if Planned Parenthood clinics were to close, many communities’ remaining providers would be unable to serve all of the clinics’ former patients – and some communities would be left without any safety-net provider at all.
Women’s Health Issues is the official journal of the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health, which is based at the Milken Institute School of Public Health (Milken Institute SPH) at the George Washington University. The commentary, "Turning Back the Clock on Women’s Health in Medically Underserved Communities," was co-authored by Sara Rosenbaum, JD, the Harold and Jane Hirsh Professor of Health Law and Policy at Milken Institute SPH, and Susan F. Wood, PhD, the Executive Director of the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health at Milken Institute SPH.
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