NARAL Pro-Choice America, a national reproductive rights groups, today released a report analyzing the “state of women’s access to reproductive-health care” around the country. Florida received an “F” overall for the policies it enacted in the last year.
Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration recently submitted the state’s Medicaid overhaul proposal to the federal government — and reproductive rights advocates say there are still lingering questions about equal access to family planning services for Medicaid beneficiaries.
Planned Parenthood has sent a petition to Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration, warning that a provision in the state’s Medicaid overhaul plan that allows providers to not offer family planning services “due to an objection on moral or religious grounds” could restrict access to a federally required service.
Despite the overwhelming acceptance of birth control among Catholics, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church continues to ask U.S. lawmakers to restrict access to contraceptive services.
Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration (aka AHCA) is finishing proposals for the state’s Medicaid overhaul to send to the federal government for approval. Among the contentious provisions is one that allows Medicaid providers to opt out of providing family planning services on “moral or religious grounds.”
A spokeswoman for Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration said yesterday in a statement to The Florida Independent that it believes Florida’s plan to allow Medicaid providers the option of not providing family planning “is in compliance with federal requirements.”
According to The News Service of Florida, Florida health officials have “less than three months” to develop a detailed Medicaid-overhaul plan to sell to the Obama administration. But whether or not the federal government will give Florida a go-ahead with its proposed overhaul is unclear, due to certain provisions that “conflict with basic federal laws.” Among these conflicts is a provision that allows Medicaid providers to opt-out of providing family planning services on “moral or religious grounds.”
State Sen. Nan Rich, D-Sunrise, followed through on her plan to file an amendment that would remove language in Florida’s Medicaid bill that allows Medicaid service providers to opt out of providing family planning services on “moral or religious grounds,” but the amendment failed yesterday during one of the final motions on the bill.
Last week, state senators passed an amendment to Florida’s Medicaid privatization bill that would allow providers to not offer birth control “due to an objection on moral or religious grounds.” According to state Sen. Joe Negron, R-Palm City, the amendment came at the request of “Catholic Services.” According to recent research, this restriction would remove a service that the overwhelming majority of Catholic women are actually using.
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