ARCHIVE: How Crisis Pregnancy Centers Rely on Medicaid
Originally posted on Facebook on July 30th 2017 about NPR article "How Crisis Pregnancy Centers Rely on Medicaid".
Crisis pregnancy centers are sites where women who are unexpectedly pregnant can visit to receive pregnancy tests, moral support, and in some cases, concrete assistance with childcare. Their purpose is to offer alternatives to abortion. However, these centers are not clinics- they do not require licensed healthcare professionals on staff nor are they bound by the same confidentiality requirements other healthcare centers are. Some places are very transparent about their limitations and are sincere about their mission, but not all of them are. Many serve low-income women and assist them in enrolling in their state's Medicaid programs.
Anyways, I thought this article presented an interesting juxtaposition. There seems to be a sizable overlap between people who oppose government spending on Medicaid and people who are against abortion. When so many births require federal funding, it raises some important questions.
Pregnancy is complicated and personal, but it's also expensive and can be dangerous if it's not monitored properly. I thought this article had some great discourse on the challenges low-income women face in these circumstances, but it would have been nice to see a more critical conversation about how CPCs aren't always this supportive to all women who visit them. Some excerpts:
"For pregnant women in the United States, Medicaid is less a safety net than a building block of the maternity care system. Of the 4.3 million births in the United States each year, more than 2 million are covered by Medicaid — nearly half."
"Women's health groups like the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists note that uninsured women have higher rates of pregnancy complications, including preterm birth. CEO Hal Lawrence says those women also have a harder time planning future pregnancies because of reduced access to contraception."
"They'll say something like, you know, 'Shouldn't your job be to get people off of government services, and not on government services?' I think that's definitely the goal." But that can't always be the goal, she says, when you have a lower-income single mom who either doesn't have a job or, if she does have a job, it's minimum wage or less.
Crisis pregnancy centers are sites where women who are unexpectedly pregnant can visit to receive pregnancy tests, moral support, and in some cases, concrete assistance with childcare. Their purpose is to offer alternatives to abortion. However, these centers are not clinics- they do not require licensed healthcare professionals on staff nor are they bound by the same confidentiality requirements other healthcare centers are. Some places are very transparent about their limitations and are sincere about their mission, but not all of them are. Many serve low-income women and assist them in enrolling in their state's Medicaid programs.
Anyways, I thought this article presented an interesting juxtaposition. There seems to be a sizable overlap between people who oppose government spending on Medicaid and people who are against abortion. When so many births require federal funding, it raises some important questions.
Pregnancy is complicated and personal, but it's also expensive and can be dangerous if it's not monitored properly. I thought this article had some great discourse on the challenges low-income women face in these circumstances, but it would have been nice to see a more critical conversation about how CPCs aren't always this supportive to all women who visit them. Some excerpts:
"For pregnant women in the United States, Medicaid is less a safety net than a building block of the maternity care system. Of the 4.3 million births in the United States each year, more than 2 million are covered by Medicaid — nearly half."
"Women's health groups like the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists note that uninsured women have higher rates of pregnancy complications, including preterm birth. CEO Hal Lawrence says those women also have a harder time planning future pregnancies because of reduced access to contraception."
"They'll say something like, you know, 'Shouldn't your job be to get people off of government services, and not on government services?' I think that's definitely the goal." But that can't always be the goal, she says, when you have a lower-income single mom who either doesn't have a job or, if she does have a job, it's minimum wage or less.
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