Legislators Opposed to Birth Control Issue an Outrageous Request to Unnecessarily Audit Charitable Health Care Providers Working to Prevent Unintended Pregnancy

MADISON, WI – Last week, while women’s health providers and advocates acknowledged the 42^rd Anniversary of Roe v. Wade by noting the significant decline of women’s access to essential reproductive care, Wisconsin legislators continued their assault on women’s health. Thirty-two legislators, all of whom have been endorsed by the anti-women’s health lobby because of their opposition to birth control, signed a letter asking for the Legislature to conduct an audit of Planned Parenthood and the other family planning providers in Wisconsin. Throughout the letter, the legislators made outrageous claims highlighting their clear misunderstanding or willful mischaracterization of the care provided by the network of charity care providers. Tanya Atkinson, Executive Director of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin issued the following statement in response:

“The accusations contained in the letter from women’s health opponents in our Legislature are downright slanderous. Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin and the other family planning providers have a long, proud history of honestly serving thousands of women with affordable access to birth control, cancer screenings, treatment referrals and wellness exams. These dubious claims are another politically motivated effort to further harass, intimidate and threaten health care providers who are dedicated to providing affordable, high quality and non-judgmental reproductive health care to all women and families.

“The elected officials behind this letter will go to any lengths to insert politics into women’s health care. These lawmakers believe birth control should be restricted, and in some cases, illegal. Based on their previous voting records and support from groups like Pro Life Wisconsin that want a constitutional ban all birth control, we aren’t surprised that they would make such outrageous allegations.

“The fact is that are there is no wrongdoing, nor any reason to question the billing practices of PPWI or the other family planning providers. Planned Parenthood has nothing to hide and has been billing Medicaid appropriately under both state and federal law. Any audit of billing practices would find widespread compliance with Medicaid rules and regulations by family planning providers.

“As a Medicaid provider, PPWI has undergone benchmark audits in the general course of doing business. There have not been any findings of wrongdoing or fraud in the past. If a mistake is ever made, we work with DHS to address it quickly to ensure no disruption in patient care.

“We are a not-for-profit, safety net health care provider whose mission is to ensure that men and women of Wisconsin have access to high quality, affordable, preventative health care. By providing women with the birth control they need we are preventing unintended pregnancies, enhancing women’s earning potential and saving the state Medicaid program and taxpayers millions of dollars each year in averted negative health outcomes.

“For almost 80 years, Planned Parenthood has been there for women and families and that is not changing. We all want strong, healthy families. The best way to achieve this is to remove politics from women’s health and to work with health care providers to ensure we can meet the health care needs of women and families.”

Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin is the advocacy arm of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. PPAWI engages in legislative and educational activity and works to elect candidates to office that support these goals.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.