For the record re: Trump and PP, he goes on and on about all the good they do. Oh, really? What good? What good do they do that can’t be done for low income clients at any other community medical clinic in towns and cities all over the country? Oh, I get it...must be the abortions.
In 2012, Planned Parenthood performed almost 11 million “services”: Pap smears, HIV testing, breast exams, you name it, including 327,166 abortions. Yes, we COULD ramp up local public clinics and such to handle the additional 10.5 million-plus services outside of abortions, but, that’d take some doing. In some places, IL for example, state funded services are under extreme budget pressure. So, then what? Block grants to build more clinics? Set up a network of temporary (yeah, right) Federal clinics? Our Fed-Gov. will have it’s hands full straightening out the VA, alone.
This is not to mention that the vast majority of voters might accept defunding of PP if PP won’t stop offering abortions, but there’s just no way they’ll accept closing down PP unilaterally. Letting PP make the choice of receiving Federal funding OR offering abortion services is politically possible. Not giving them that choice and ending their Federal funding is not politically possible. Whoever the Pub Presidential candidate is who’d pursue the latter course would lose by 15-20 points, and the Senate would go at least 5 up by the Dems.
IMO, get this victory (end public funding of abortions via PP) while we can - it’s a huge one, and then the abortion issue can be pursued separately from general womens’ health issues.