Advocates Turn To WA State Leaders After US Senate Votes To Defund Planned Parenthood, But State Democrats Already Slashed Care

On Tuesday, The U.S. Senate passed President Donald Trump’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which will defund Planned Parenthood. If the bill becomes law, it will deny birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing, among other important health care to millions of low-income people across the country, including thousands in Washington.

With both chambers supporting devastating cuts to Planned Parenthood, advocates call on Washington state elected officials to "do everything in their power to preserve access to care and protect Planned Parenthood patients.” But they shouldn't hold their breath –– earlier this year, the Democrat-controlled Washington State Legislature approved a budget, delivering the largest cut to abortion care in State history.

Among a litany of villanous measures in the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," the bill bill seeks to cut Planned Parenthood off from federal Medicaid funding. Advocates say that the bill would close at least 200 Planned Parenthood health care centers across the country or about a third of these vital clinics. An estimated 90% of clinics at risk of closing because of this bill are in places where abortion is legal, but means about 1.1 million patients could lose access to care. And these patients won’t have anywhere else to turn. New Guttmacher Institute research finds that Planned Parenthood cannot be easily replaced by other providers. 

Even in Washington, a state that prides itself on protecting reproductive justice, the results of this bill would be catastrophic. According to a press release from Planned Parenthood, “Nearly half of Planned Parenthood patients rely on Medicaid to access care in Washington. Blocking access to Planned Parenthood would overwhelm Washington’s already overstretched safety net.” 

“This vote is nothing short of an attack on our health, our rights, and our future. Defunding Planned Parenthood is cruel, dangerous, and only serves to hand a win to anti-abortion extremists and billionaires,” CEO of Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates Jennifer M. Allen said in a press release Tuesday morning. 

US Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) tried to reverse Republicans’ attack on health care. Murray proposed an amendment that would strike the section in the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act” that guts Planned Parenthood’s funding. She warned that the cuts amounted to another step in a “back door” plot to effectively ban abortion nationwide. 

Murray found support from all members of her party, including her Washington colleague Sen. Maria Cantwell. She scooped some votes across the aisle from Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted to save Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid funding. But the amendment failed 51-49. 

 "We’re grateful to Senators Murray and Cantwell for fiercely fighting for and voting to protect Planned Parenthood and every person’s access to reproductive health care,” said Allen. “With both chambers of Congress including provisions to cruelly try to prevent Medicaid patients from receiving care at Planned Parenthood, this next step in the process makes the threat very real and Washington state must be ready. We call on our state elected leaders to do everything in their power to preserve access to care and protect Planned Parenthood patients.”

But advocates for reproducative justice have been betrayed by state elected leaders before. Earlier this year, the Washington State legislature, under the control of Democrats in both chambers and the Governors' office, approved a budget that slashed funding for the State's Abortion Access Program by 55%. The $8.5 million cut did little to close the State's budget shortfall, but will devastate the program designed to met increased demand in Washington state as so many flee to the Blue haven to recieve abortion care. In a press release from April, Planned Parenthood said, the budget "undermines that mission, will likely close health centers that provide abortions, and puts lives on the line."

In a statement to The Burner, Allen described the State's cuts and the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" as a "one-two punch when it comes to reproductive health care."

"The devastating state budget cut to abortion funding earlier this year, combined with the harmful federal bill moving through Congress, put access to all sexual and reproductive health care, including preventive care, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, abortion, gender affirming care, and more, at real risk — even in a state like ours," Allen said. "And as usual, those most impacted will be the Washington patients who already have the most limited access to care and face the worst health outcomes."

Allen said Planned Parenthood is in ongoing conversations with state lawmakers and Gov. Bob Ferguson, urging them to restore critical funding for the Abortion Access Project and backfill the exclusion of Planned Parenthood from Medicare.

"There’s still time to make this right before sexual and reproductive health care for Washingtonians is impacted further," Allen said.

"Today, Planned Parenthood is here for patients, and we will continue to pursue every avenue to assure that access to care continues," Allen said. "But at a moment when politicians in D.C. are doing everything they can to block health care, we need our state leaders to step up for Washington's values and do everything they can to safeguard that care. We remain committed to pushing for the solutions Washingtonians deserve, and we won’t let up.”