Government officials, health care providers and patients rallied outside of the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in Seaport on Wednesday in support of Planned Parenthood and reproductive health care access.
The rally was held prior to a Boston federal appeals court hearing of a legal challenge to a law that blocks approximately 1.1 million patients nationwide from utilizing Medicaid at Planned Parenthood centers.
“Under the Trump administration’s defund policy that took effect in July, every Planned Parenthood affiliate faces an impossible choice: Stop providing abortion care or lose federal funding,” said Dominique Lee, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. “That’s not a funding issue. That is a backdoor abortion ban.”
Lee said this law could cause the closure of nearly 200 health centers, which not only offer abortions, but also sexually transmitted infection testing, breast exams, pap smears and gender-affirming care.
“We will not abandon our patients, even if this administration turns its back on them,” Lee said.
City Councilor Gabriela Coletta Zapata spoke at the rally and said many residents in East Boston, the neighborhood she represents, “depend on the high quality, life-saving affordable care that Planned Parenthood health centers provide.”
“Millions of patients across the country who rely on Medicaid are suddenly being told that their care doesn’t matter,” she said. “That’s not policy. That’s cruelty.”
Planned Parenthood patient Meghan Donnelly called for people to “continue to support Planned Parenthood harder and louder than we ever have.”
“I am living the life that I have always envisioned for myself today because I was able to go to Planned Parenthood when I needed care quickly and affordably,” Donnelly said. “Every person deserves that access.”
Donnelly shared her experience with the PPLM, recalling how “lucky” she felt to be in Massachusetts when she discovered she was pregnant.
“I firmly believe that there is no provider better than Planned Parenthood here in Massachusetts,” she said. “Every single person that I met through this process supported me.”
Among the speakers was Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, who joined a coalition of 23 states in filing a lawsuit opposing the law preventing patients from using Medicaid at Planned Parenthood.
“I’m absolutely proud to have filed a lawsuit to push back on this administration’s efforts to defund Planned Parenthood in Massachusetts,” Campbell said. “They are trying to take away $5 million of Medicaid funding for the important, essential health care work that this organization is doing here in Massachusetts, and we’re simply saying, ‘Not on our watch.’”
Jailene Delgado, a patient navigator at PPLM, spoke about her work supporting patients.
“We offer services that close financial gaps, language gaps and even some emotional gaps,” Delgado said. “Our team offers support to our patients when they think they’re alone and when they think they’re out of options.”
Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said Planned Parenthood is a “critical part of the public health infrastructure.”
Johnson also said Planned Parenthood centers across the country have provided $45 million worth of care to patients who were unable to use Medicaid to pay for care.
“Every day that Planned Parenthood serves and exists to open up its doors for patients, we are another notch fighting against the tyranny of this administration,” Johnson said.
