Is LB 599 Pro-Life?: Planned Parenthood would be eligible for funds under Illegal immigrant Prenatal Care law

by Street Sweeper on April 13, 2012

Tweet

LB 599 in the Nebraska Legislature has pitted foes on two different issues against each other. On the one hand is Governor Dave Heineman, who has stated that it is an immigration issue — he does not want to provide taxpayer funded prenatal care for illegal immigrants.


On the other side is those who state that it is a Pro-Life issue — that the child born will likely be a Nebraska citizen, and giving free care will more likely result in a healthy child.


But Leavenworth Street has learned of a third angle on this bill — one that the Pro-Life forces may not have realized:

Abortion provider Planned Parenthood would be eligible to receive state money for providing services to illegal immigrants under this law, if passed.


We have learned that an illegal immigrant woman could go into a Planned Parenthood clinic, receive whatever prenatal care she sought, then Planned Parenthood could bill the state for those services.


It should be noted that Planned Parenthood does NOT separate any funds they receive for providing prenatal services from those they receive for providing abortion services. All the money goes into one account. So Nebraska money would be mixed in to pay for prenatal services and for abortions. There is no separation.


Now it is our understanding that Planned Parenthood could not bill the State of Nebraska for performing an abortion on an illegal immigrant. But, an illegal immigrant woman could go into Planned Parenthood, receive prenatal care from them, then decide to abort (and pay PP out of her own pocket), and Nebraska would still have to pay the bill for the prenatal care.


And while some might question the likelihood of someone first getting the prenatal services and then aborting, the other side of it is Planned Parenthood using the lure of prenatal services to get the illegal immigrant woman in the door, and then counseling her to abort. Is this beyond what Planned Parenthood stoops to? You can be the judge on that.


All this being said, low income, LEGAL Nebraska residents can now go into Planned Parenthood, get prenatal care, and Planned Parenthood can bill the state. But the argument on the “Pro-Life” side of of LB 599 has been that it is purely a Pro-Life question. By the insertion of Planned Parenthood into the equation, it muddies the waters. How much? A drop? A handful? A shovelful? Does it matter? Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t.


At this point LB 599 has passed in the legislature, and if vetoed, as planned, it cannot be amended in a veto override. So it is all or nothing here.


We have no idea where Nebraska Right to Life stands on this, or if they were or are aware of this situation. Maybe they feel they can just fight to keep illegal immigrant women from going to Planned Parenthood. Or maybe they figure that some money going to Planned Parenthood’s abortion services from Nebraska is worth it for the services that illegal immigrant women would get from the new law. Or maybe there is another way to look at it that we haven’t thought of.

But we have not heard this argument on this bill anywhere else. And if the opposition argument to the illegal immigrant argument is pretty simply, “support the Pro-Life position”, there is a a real question as to what the Pro-Life position here really is.