Health Officials In Louisiana Claim Dentists Can Provide Same Services As Planned Parenthood

Officials with the Louisiana state department of health recently told a federal judge that dentists, cosmetic surgeons, and nursing home caregivers are qualified to provide the same services currently being delivered by Planned Parenthood in the state.

But US District Court Judge John deGravelles was more than a bit skeptical of their claims, remarking:

“It strikes me as extremely odd that you have a dermatologist, an audiologist, a dentist who are billing for family planning services. But that is what you’re representing to the court? You’re telling me that they can provide family planning and related services?”

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal recently made a push to strip $730,000 in Medicaid reimbursements from the state’s two Planned Parenthood facilities last month shortly after the release of a series of extremely specious videos by the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress.

The hearing before Judge deGravelles is part of Jindal’s continuing efforts to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood in Louisiana as he also seeks to bolster his image among potential voters in the 2016 GOP primaries. Jindal is currently falling like a stone in the polls.

Other conservatives in Louisiana, including GOP Senator Bill Cassidy, have called for Planned Parenthood’s federal funding to be eliminated entirely. Cassidy has repeatedly argued that there are 100 clinics “scattered all over the state” capable of serving Planned Parenthood patients.

However, a listing issued by the state this week shows that only 29 providers can do so, including just 24 offering the same range of services as Planned Parenthood. Of the providers listed in the new filing, one is not taking new patients for breast cancer or cervical cancer screenings, three offer some contraception services, and two have wait times ranging from two to seven weeks.

So the next time you’re at the dentist’s office, you might want to go ahead and see if you can also acquire some contraception. Imagine the look on your dentist’s face when you ask him or her to set you up with an IUD!

This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org.

One thought on “Health Officials In Louisiana Claim Dentists Can Provide Same Services As Planned Parenthood

  1. How Pathetic! …for the ENTIRE STATE OF LOUISIANA there are ONLY TWO Planned Parenthood facilities? And they want to close those two??? Want to really save some money for the state and federal government? Offer free birth control, free vasectomy…anything that the people request in the form of birth control should be free!!!! That way unwanted pregnancies are avoided in families where they know that they cannot afford to have another child. Those that cannot afford another child and who have access to free birth control of their choosing will not become a ‘burden’ on the state or federal budget. Mothers who MUST work, because of a frozen minimum wage and an ever-rising cost of living that forces both the man and woman out to work, should have choices offered to her concerning birth control or planned parenthood. The governors and senators who are continually striving to take benefits away from the average American have never known what it’s like to worry over medical expenses or wonder where their rent or next meal is coming from. They stand up with their ‘holier than thou’ attitudes and declare that poor people should find jobs after the government cuts Education budgets right and left, they ‘give’ student loans for college and charge exorbitant interest on the payback amount…it’s as if they are doing everything within their power to keep the average American poor and uneducated. Perhaps that is the only way the majority of politicians can stay in power, by keeping the citizens in ignorance, by keeping them starving, and keeping them so busy trying to make ends meet that there is no time for keeping up with politics and what is going on in the world around them. Is there any one in government office who actually strives to help people out of their never-ending cycle of hand-to-mouth living? If there were absolutely no other country in the entire world that manages to help their citizens, then I would understand the dilemma which faces the American politicians. But that is not the case! There are other countries who are successful in educating their children, who offer health benefits and housing to the masses, and who have a better working wage than America. So why can’t the successes of other countries be put into practice in America? It’s utterly heartbreaking to know that your own government does not care about its own people. And it’s even more heart wrenching to see that you keep voting that kind of person into office.

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