Support for Governor Brewer’s Medicaid expansion plan is falling away as a result of her efforts to sell it. In a recent headcount done by Capitol insiders, it looks now as if the Governor is facing an uphill battle.
In a recent survey of the Republican caucus, the pool of lawmakers that is supportive of the plan is getting “soft” while the ranks of those who are leaning no or dead set against expansion are growing, the Yellow Sheet reported . “From a definite ‘yes,’ there’s now a soft yes,” the source told the Yellow Sheet. “[Meanwhile], those who are leaning against are now ‘nos’ and those who are soft ‘nos’ are now hard ‘nos’.”
Democrats will not support the plan if it does not fund abortions. Minority Leader Chad Campbell held a news briefing at which he said that if the Governor’s Medicaid expansion plan included any prohibitions on the funding of health care providers that perform abortions, such as Planned Parenthood, the caucus will fight it.
Sentiment against expansion that would necessarily have to fund health care providers that perform abortions is growing rapidly. The Governor, earlier this month, attempted to sell Medicaid expansion as a right-to-life issue to conservatives, arguing that those who value life must value expansion and the care it provides to everyone.
However, many are now questioning the Governor’s premise that everyone would receive care.
One moderate Republican cited a recent video of a Planned Parenthood lobbyist who argued in front of Florida lawmakers that what doctors do with babies who were supposed to be aborted but were instead born alive is the doctors’ business. “That’s entirely up to the doctor, the woman and the family,” said Alisa Laport Snow, the lobbyist for Florida’s Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, during a committee hearing in Florida.
“So, um, it is just really hard for me to even ask you this question because I’m almost in disbelief,” said Rep. Jim Boyd, to Ms. Snow, as reported by the Washington Times. “If a baby is born on a table as a result of a botched abortion, what would Planned Parenthood want to have happen to that child that is struggling for life?”
“We believe that any decision that’s made should be left up to the woman, her family, and the physician,” Ms. Snow said.
However, Campbell, a gubernatorial hopeful said that “If we’re going to start limiting who gets these services because of some ideological extremism down here, that’s not going to fly,” Campbell told the Yellow Sheet.