Written by Michael Palomba
President Trump recently threatened to cut some federal funding to California over the state’s requirement that mandates private insurers cover abortion.
The Trump administration says that the requirement violates a federal ban on discriminating against health care entities that refuse to cover abortion services or refer patients for the procedure when taxpayer dollars are involved. The Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) has given the state 30 days to comply or accept the loss of an unspecified amount of funding.
HHS Director of the Office for Civil Rights Roger Severino said, “[California] must stop forcing people of goodwill to subsidize the taking of human life.” He also said that 28,000 Californias that had abortion-free plans have lost that option due to the requirement.
Governor Gavin Newsom was not pleased by the announcement. He claimed Trump would be taking billions from kids, seniors, the poor, and the sick.
“The Trump administration would rather rile up its base to score cheap political points and risk access to care for millions than do what’s right,” he said. “California will continue to protect a woman’s right to choose, and we won’t back down from defending reproductive freedom for everybody — full stop.”
He then tweeted about the situation:
Trump is threatening to take away ALL OF OUR HEALTHCARE FUNDING.
TENS OF BILLIONS of dollars.
10 MILLION PEOPLE who are:
poor
sick
kids
seniors
families
will LOSE their healthcare.And yet you call yourself “pro-life” @realDonaldTrump?? You sicken me. https://t.co/pXdmeZwbSm
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) January 24, 2020
It seems odd that Newsom would tweet “Trump is threatening to take away ALL OF OUR HEALTHCARE FUNDING,” considering that the amount of funding that would be cut has not been specified. It’s also misleading to say that “kids, seniors, the poor and the sick” would be the ones hurt by the funding cut. The funding cut is not directed at any specific groups, and California controls how its funds are distributed and used.
So, it appears that Mr. Newsom has already decided what groups will take the fall in honor of the pro-choice movement. In addition, rather than taking responsibility for his state violating federal policies, he is fear-mongering and playing the blame game.
Sadly, this is typical behavior for the governor. Earlier this year the Trump administration called out Mr. Newsom for the state’s poor forest management and its effect on the wildfires. Rather than taking responsibility for the state’s faults and committing to do better, he claimed Trump was “conducting a full on assault against the antidotes.”
