Rep. Amy Kuhn, D-Falmouth, is serving her second term in the Maine House and represents part of Falmouth. She is the House chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary.
When the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated the federal constitutional right to abortion in 2022, the Maine Legislature acted quickly and decisively to ensure that our state laws protected reproductive rights and access to health care.
In the years that followed, we have passed legislation that ensures our laws stay ahead of national attacks and protect Maine patients’ access to essential health care. True to our state motto, we have been a leader in the fight for reproductive rights across the country.
But abortion opponents know that state laws protecting abortion rights are only as effective as patients’ access to care. If providers are forced to close their doors, the Legislature’s hard work to shore up our state laws is nothing more than an empty promise.
Enter H.R. 1, the sweeping federal budget bill passed by Congress last summer that “defunded” Maine Family Planning and Planned Parenthood by preventing them from being reimbursed for care provided to patients with Medicaid, known here as MaineCare. H.R. 1 also withheld funding already appropriated to Title X, the only federal funding source for family planning and basic preventive health care services. Since then, some of that funding has been restored, but it’s only a matter of time before these organizations are targeted again.
These attacks are especially harmful in Maine, where our reproductive health care network is the backbone of a fragile health care system and a focal point for not only reproductive health care services, but primary and behavioral health services as well.
If we lose this network, we will lose preventative care that keeps Mainers healthy, like cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, contraceptive care, wellness exams, immunizations and so much more. If these centers close, many of the most vulnerable Mainers will have nowhere else to go.
These funding cuts won’t just hurt Maine Family Planning’s 19 health centers and Planned Parenthood’s four, but also the larger Title X subgrantee network of 32 Federally Qualified Health Centers and eight school-based health centers, which collectively serve approximately 30,000 Mainers a year.
Sixty-nine percent of the patients served by this network live at 250% or below of the federal poverty level. For many, their visit for sexual and reproductive health care is the only visit to a doctor they’ll make all year. If Maine Family Planning and Planned Parenthood are forced to reduce health center hours or close entirely, there would be real harm — from poorer birth outcomes to increased utilization of emergency rooms.
For these reasons, I am proud to sponsor legislation, LD 335, that would protect funding for family planning services, respond to immediate threats and represent our best efforts to shield against future attacks.
First, the bill would fill the Medicaid funding hole created by H.R.1, substituting state dollars for federal dollars for the one-year period providers are disqualified from federal funding. This will ensure patients can continue to access the care they need for the near future.
Second, the bill would create safeguards in the event of a “defund” or degradation of Medicaid or Title X. By automatically requiring state funds to kick in if federal funding dries up, we can safeguard Maine patients from the whims of politicians in Washington.
Finally, the bill would sufficiently fund family planning services, which have been flat-funded for a decade. Additional funding would address not only future political threats, but also the challenges of providing health care in an environment of rising costs, substantial demand for free and discounted care and perennial low and stagnant reimbursement rates.
As the federal government threatens our health care, I am proud of the work we have done — and will continue to do — in Augusta to protect Mainers’ access to health care. With LD 335, we have the opportunity to show the people of Maine that, in the face of these attacks, we still believe in fighting for the dignity, health and well-being of all.