It is an article of faith in the Republican presidential derby, even among the guys in the single-digit club, like Louisiana's ramblin' governor "Bobby" Jindal, that it's time to defund Planned Parenthood. This is because they are all pretending to believe a bunch of phony videos, and it is also because it is in the area of ladyparts, and the ladies who have them, that the prion disease afflicting the party's brain is particularly acute.

As is relentlessly pointed out to these meatheads, PP does a lot more than give women a place to exercise their constitutional right to choose. A good example is what's happened in Louisiana since "Bobby" yanked the state's money away from the organization.

"We have a syphilis epidemic right now in New Orleans," said Dr. Taylor, the medical director overseeing programs to combat sexually transmitted infections for the State Office of Public Health. She is also the director of Louisiana State University's sexually transmitted infections program, which operates in the wellness center here. Louisiana ranks first among the states in cases of gonorrhea, second in chlamydia, and third in syphilis and H.I.V., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…Neither clinic in this state — like nearly half of all Planned Parenthood centers — performs abortions. What the Louisiana Planned Parenthood clinics did do last year was administer nearly 20,000 tests for sexually transmitted infections, as well as provide gynecological exams, contraceptive care, cancer screenings and other wellness services for nearly 10,000 mostly low-income patients. "You can't just cut Planned Parenthood off one day and expect everyone across the city to absorb the patients," Dr. Taylor said. "There needs to be time to build the capacity."

"Bobby" Jindal is out there, running for president on his record as governor of Louisiana, which can be summed up easily in two phrases.

"Venereal disease" and "brain-eating amoebas."

Helluva platform.

Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

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