The planned parenthood in Vienna, W. Va. (Google Maps)
A republican law that temporarily restricts Medicaid to the planned parenthood will affect about a third of the patients in their only clinic in West Virginia.
The clinic in Vienna in Wood County does not offer abortion and does not have long before West Virginia legislators Mostly prohibited the procedure in 2022.
Patients – a third of them on Medicaid – come for birth control, cancer examinations, sexually transmitted infections and treatment, said Anne Logan Bass, clinical director of family planning for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic.
Medicaid, for a year at Planned Parenthood, also for preventive health care, prohibits the “a great beautiful bill”, which President Donald Trump signed in the law at the beginning of this month. The organization is the best abortion provider in the country that is more than 400,000 in 2024According to his annual report.
“We are destroyed for our patients,” said Bass about the Medicaid ban. “It is a really harmful law that prevents our patients from going where they want to get care. We strive to maintain access for care as long as possible.”
The law aims at abortion providers who have done more than Medicaid 800,000 in 2023.
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Human Services in West Virginia, who monitors Medicaid, said that the department is aware that the law will influence the clinic for planned parenthood in Vienna and that further clarification from the Federal Centers for Medicare and Services about other clinics in the state. The state expects further instructions as soon as the legal process has ended, Angelica Hightower, communications specialist for DHS, wrote to West Virginia Watch.
The Women’s Health Center in West Virginia in Charleston carried out abortions until the state passed a ban on abortion and is connected to the women’s health center in Maryland, which is still doing this. A spokeswoman for the West Virginia women’s health center said that the law would not prohibit accepting Medicaid patients.
The Medicaid bans for the planned parenthood were put into force immediately after the legislation has been signed. The national organization filed a lawsuit that questioned the law. US district judge Indira Talwani in Boston Made a short-lived injunction that the law was not effective for 14 days.
After a hearing on Friday, The judge Made an injunction blocking The government, which initially offers the financing of Medicaid financial agents on planned parenting agencies, which either offer no abortion care or do not offer at least 800,000 US dollars for Medicaid reimbursements per year. After reporting by the Associated Press.
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, which the West Virginia clinic manages, does not fall into the category of those who continue to receive Medicaid Finance, said Julia Walker, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic.
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic manages a total of 14 clinics in West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. In total, 13% of the patients are the Planned Parenthood South Atlantic Medicaid recipient, she said.
Planned parenthood can close up to 200 clinics across the country Because of the Medicaid ban. Bass said there are no plans to close one of the clinics in the South Atlantic region.
The entire Congress delegation of West Virginia, all Republicans, voted for the budget reconciliation law. In an explanation after the vote, Rep. Riley Moore praised the legislation and said that she “fully resolutely planned parenthood”. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito has published her support for the determination of planned parenthood On the social media platform x ,, Reposting Wall Street Journal Matthew Hennessy, who said: “The development of the abortion giant Planned Parenthood is the most beautiful in the GOP megabill.”
“Couldn’t have said it better, @Matthenessy,” she wrote.
Bass said she is worried about Medicaid patients in the Vienna Clinic and elsewhere.
She remembered a patient who met her about six months ago in the Vienna Clinic in the Vienna Clinic. The patient, who is on Medicaid, said Bass, she does not see any other health service providers next to the Planned Parenthood.
“This patient has always been here since she was like 18 years senior and when her quote came to the planned parenthood, Bass said.
She said the law was an example of Americans who lose their freedom.
“You should have freedom to decide what is best for you, not for the government,” said Bass. “… it is true that the Americans lose their freedom, and this law is just an example.”
While the provision of the law is still in force, Planned Parenthood still checks the judge’s arrangement, said Walker.
“As we do this, we still see patients like normal – nothing has changed for our patients in West Virginia,” she said.
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