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As Republicans in Congress vow to defund Planned Parenthood, leaders in Vermont warn access to basic health care for thousands of Vermonters could be affected.

The organization is the only federally designated family planning provider in Vermont. Planned Parenthood has more than 18,000 patients at 12 different health centers, and serves a large proportion of women of reproductive age in Vermont communities.

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Across 10 Vermont counties, the organization serves at least one-tenth of women of childbearing age, according to data from Planned Parenthood of Vermont Action Fund. In Rutland County, 26 percent of women between ages 18 and 34 use Planned Parenthood, the highest proportion in the state.

Defunding Planned Parenthood, according to Kaiser Health News, means not allowing the organization to accept payments from low-income and disabled patients who have Medicaid for health insurance.

More than 50 percent of Planned Parenthood patients in Vermont have Medicaid for health insurance, according to Meagan Gallagher, the president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Vermont Action Fund.

The reimbursement from Medicaid patients was about $1.3 million in fiscal year 2016, according to the Department of Vermont Health Access. That’s higher than the roughly $1 million the organization gets in federal Title X funding for being a designated family planning provider.

Many of the Medicaid patients come in for reproductive health needs—such as birth control, pregnancy tests, and screening for sexually transmitted infections—and the doctor will use the appointment to encourage them to treat other health care needs, according to Gallagher.

Although Planned Parenthood clinics are the largest abortion providers in Vermont, the federal Medicaid program does not fund the vast majority of those abortions because of a federal law known as the Hyde Amendment passed in 1976, which only allows federal money to fund abortion in very rare circumstances.

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“For many women we are serving as their primary care provider, or the only health care provider they see throughout the year,” she said. “Without Planned Parenthood, people would not be able to access basic health care services.”

The organization also allows people to book appointments online. “If you just Google ‘Planned Parenthood’ and want to make an appointment, even at the Google level you can choose one, come into the health center, and get care,” she said.

Auburn Watersong, the policy director for the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, said many of the domestic violence victims she works with identify a local Planned Parenthood clinic as a primary care provider.

“The Network stands in solidarity with Planned Parenthood,” Watersong said. “We are deeply concerned that Vermont’s victims of domestic and sexual violence remain able to access affordable reproductive health care.”

Cory Gustafson, the commissioner of the Department of Vermont Health Access, declined to comment on the potential defunding of Planned Parenthood, but said the state’s “commitment to preserving quality access will continue” well into the future.

Judy Stermer, the spokesperson for the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, said the association has not yet analyzed how hospitals might provide women’s health care services if Planned Parenthood is defunded.

“Vermont hospitals are always ready to work with community partners and other providers to ensure that gaps in services aren’t there for patients,” Stermer said. “That’s what hospitals are set up to do and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”

Gallagher said Republicans in Congress voted in 2015 to defund Planned Parenthood and “the only thing that has prevented that defunding from happening is President Obama’s veto.” She said there’s no guarantee of a veto anymore.

“We’re hoping that the gravity of the situation will cause senators to think more deeply about what defunding Planned Parenthood means in their communities,” Gallagher said.

“In Vermont, as a statewide family planning provider, it means the difference between being able to access health care services or not,” she said.

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