The Senate Budget Reconciliation Bill, passed Tuesday, eliminates Medicaid reimbursements to healthcare providers who perform abortions. It now goes to the House for a vote.
The president and CEO of Maine Family Planning is warning that House passage of the Budget Reconciliation Bill will result in a delay or loss of services for MaineCare patients who will be forced to pay out of pocket for contraception and other reproductive care.
A nonprofit, Maine Family Planning provides services to about 40,000 Maine residents, half of whom rely on MaineCare, the state's Medicaid program.
Hill called the bill an "insidious" approach to ban abortion in states — like Maine — that recognize abortion is essential, comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care.
"Basically, it's an anti-abortion measure that's dressed up as a budget provision and it's not fooling anybody," Hill said.
Maine Family Planning offers birth control, cancer screenings, sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment, and annual wellness exams in addition to abortions.
Hill said Medicaid reimbursements account for 25% of the nonprofit's budget and serve patients in federally designated medically underserved areas in Ellsworth, Houlton and Presque Isle.
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England said cancer will go undetected, birth control will be harder to access, and patients' health will be compromised.
