State to cover costs after Planned Parenthood cuts go through

A U.S. appeals court ruled that the federal government can effectively cut funding to Planned Parenthood on Thursday, but in New Mexico the state is stepping in to cover costs and keep the lights on.

“I just want everyone to know that our doors are open,” said Jack Teter, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountain’s vice president of governmental affairs, “that they can still come see us and that here we’ll be OK.”

New Mexico is one of four Western states that intervened through executive or legislative action to keep Planned Parenthood from closing as centers across the country are at risk of closure or have already shut their doors.

Nearly 200 Planned Parenthood centers in 24 states are at risk due to funding cuts, the provider said in a news release the day the “One Big Beautiful Bill” passed. That tax and domestic policy bill did not address Planned Parenthood by name, but banned state Medicaid payments to health care nonprofits that also offer abortions and received more than $800,000 in federal funding in 2023. More than a third of Planned Parenthood’s funding comes from the federal government, or about $800 million in 2022.

The move to cut funding was temporarily stayed by a court order, but this week was allowed to proceed. Taxpayer money was already prohibited from funding most abortions, instead this funding targets other services Planned Parenthood provides through Medicaid such as cancer screenings, women’s health services and treatments for sexually transmitted infections.

As of May, 38.5% of people in New Mexico were enrolled in Medicaid.

While the state has always paid a percentage of Medicaid costs, the gap left by the federal cuts will cost an estimated $3 million in state funds, Teter said.

“New Mexico will not abandon women and families when Republicans in Washington fail them,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement Friday. “Access to comprehensive reproductive healthcare is a fundamental right and a public health necessity. That’s why we’re directing state resources to ensure Medicaid patients continue receiving the full spectrum of reproductive health services through Planned Parenthood and other qualified providers without interruption.”

There are three Planned Parenthood locations in New Mexico — in Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Farmington.

In most cases states split the bill for Medicaid, Teter said, but for contraception and family planning the federal government used to pay 90%.

“Historically, the federal government recognized how critical those services were for the health of our communities,” Teter said.

Under President Donald Trump’s administration — times have changed.

Over the years Trump has wavered in his stance on abortion and family-planning services.

In 1999, he stated that he was “very pro-choice” during a NBC News interview. On the campaign trail he vowed to defund Planned Parenthood and during his first term said he supported the group’s other services but attempted to pressure it to stop providing abortions.

So far, during his second term Trump has overseen federal funding cuts to Planned Parenthood at home and cut off access to contraception for millions of women abroad by dismantling the United States Agency for International Development.

In a January executive order, the White House said that American taxpayers were “forced to pay” for abortion services through federal funding sources funneled into sexual health clinics like Planned Parenthood.

For nearly 50 years, it has been illegal to use federal money to pay for abortion services, thanks to the Hyde Amendment. There are few exceptions to the rule, including conception due to rape or incest or mortal danger to the woman.

Planned Parenthood does not bill the federal government for abortion services that fall outside of those exceptions.

“Congress accurately represented the values of their constituents by discontinuing taxpayer funds for Planned Parenthood,” said Senate Minority Leader Bill Sharer, R-Farmington, in a statement Friday. “At the state level, New Mexico ought not bail out this private organization with precious taxpayer dollars. Not only would such a move violate the anti-donation clause of our state constitution, it would also be an affront to the morals of roughly half of New Mexico voters.”

Though Planned Parenthood performs abortions in states where it is legal, the procedure amounts to 4% of provided services.

More than half of patients at Planned Parenthood are there to receive sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment, according to an annual national report. Nearly a quarter of patients turn to Planned Parenthood for contraception and 10% of patients are there for miscellaneous services such as primary care appointments or adoption referrals.

Not the first, not the last

Other states have also taken steps to prepare for the funding cuts.

Washington, Oregon and Colorado have all stepped in to cover costs, Teter said.

In Colorado, legislators called a special session to address federal budget cuts and passed a bill that requires the state to reimburse health care providers that the budget law prohibited from billing Medicaid, like Planned Parenthood.

The states that are intervening — New Mexico aside — are often not the states with the highest percentages of Medicaid enrollees.

Colorado has a Medicaid enrollment rate of 19%, while Washington stands at 23%.

Meanwhile, New Mexico is one of seven states where more than a quarter of the population is enrolled in Medicaid. Those states include: California, New York, Kentucky, West Virginia, Arkansas and Louisiana.

Louisiana, where 40% of people are enrolled in Medicaid, offers a grim picture of what could happen without state assistance, Teter said.

Due to the cuts, both Planned Parenthood centers in Baton Rouge and New Orleans will close by the end of the month, the organization said in an August social media post. While the centers are still open for now, in their last few weeks of operation they can no longer bill Medicaid due to the court’s decision.

“We are not the first Planned Parenthood affiliate to face this reality and we won’t be the last,” according to the post.

Neither Louisiana location performed abortions.

While Teter expects that thousands of people will continue to travel to New Mexico for abortions, most people who visit their local Planned Parenthood for birth control, a primary care provider or STI testing will likely go without rather than travel. These are people, Teter said, who are often in rural areas and have no other access to reproductive health services, if they have health care at all.

“I fear the most for those patients for whom there is not a viable alternative,” Teter said. “But, again, just incredible gratitude and relief for the governor, for this administration, for the Healthcare Authority to know that in New Mexico our patients are going to be protected and they’re going to be able to continue accessing that care.”