Planned Parenthood Wisconsin Pauses Scheduling Abortions

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin will pause scheduling abortion appointments beginning Oct. 1, saying a provision of the recently enacted federal tax-and-spending bill bars clinics that provide abortions from accepting Medicaid dollars for other reproductive services. The pause affects an organization that serves roughly 50,000 patients statewide, about 60% of whom use Medicaid, and Planned Parenthood says the funding restriction threatens its ability to keep clinics open and provide care. The organization is trying to see as many patients as possible before Sept. 30, coordinating referrals with other providers and local public-health nurses and pursuing legal options to resume care. Advocates and researchers say the move will disproportionately burden low-income patients by increasing travel distances, costs and logistical barriers; Wisconsin-specific research shows a roughly 100-mile increase in travel reduces abortion rates by about 30% and raises births by roughly 3%. The pause comes amid a fluid Wisconsin legal landscape this year, including the state Supreme Court’s July decision over the 1849 law, but officials say the federal funding restriction is the immediate cause of the scheduling pause.