Editorial: Zika victims lose in GOP war with Planned Parenthood

For the third time, Congress has failed to approve funding for Zika virus research. And for the third time, the reason is a willful misunderstanding of how to effectively address women’s health.

In May, the U.S. Senate approved a $1.1 billion compromise bill, which was later shot down once it reached the U.S. House of Representatives. House Republicans introduced alternative bills to address Zika in June and July, but Democrats blocked both due to poison pill provisions not initially in the funding legislation.

The Republican bills included additional language that would prevent federal research money from going to Planned Parenthood, a group the party has painted as dedicated solely to abortion. On Tuesday, another House Republican bill, once again including the sticking points, came to a vote and failed — blocked again by frustrated Democrats.

As an appeal to pro-life voters, it makes sense that Republicans would want to prevent Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funds. But as a matter of public health policy, the additional provisions are ludicrous. If House Republicans truly wanted to help women and their children, they would look beyond the buzzwords and realize excluding Planned Parenthood hampers any effective Zika response.

Zika is a blood-transmitted disease most commonly spread through mosquito bites and, in rare cases, sexual intercourse with an infected person. Zika commonly presents no symptoms in adults who contract the illness, but it has devastating — and potentially fatal — consequences if an infected woman becomes pregnant. Children whose mothers pass Zika on to them are commonly afflicted by microcephaly, a birth defect in which babies are born with abnormally small heads. Microcephaly can further lead to a host of additional conditions including developmental disorders, blindness and deafness.

Zika is no longer a concern limited to South America. Puerto Rico is in the midst of a massive outbreak, and health officials have identified more than 50 cases in South Florida. With mosquito season still in full force, it’s increasingly likely that Zika will continue to spread across the south.

Since Zika largely affects pregnant women and those attempting to become pregnant, they are obviously the ones most in need of the support in question. But that demographic has a direct overlap with the people Planned Parenthood serves, which is why an exclusion of the organization from federal money would cripple any future response.

An average of 2.5 million women visit Planned Parenthood annually. Thanks to several decades of conservative vilification, it largely exists in national politics as an abortion-provider, despite the organization’s claim that abortion only comprises 3 percent of its health services. While a Washington Post fact check last year noted this figure is likely higher in reality, it also called bull on conservative declarations that the overwhelming majority of Planned Parenthood’s revenue comes from such services.

If one of the bills preventing funding from reaching Planned Parenthood passed, women would likely still be able to receive future vaccines and medication from independant health clinics. And that’s all well and good, but Planned Parenthood has access to far greater resources and existing networks than any of these clinics ever will. Its ability to quickly reach a large number of women — especially those in poor or developing areas like Puerto Rico — is, factually, unparalleled.

While Democrats are the ones blocking these funding bills, they are doing so for good reason, and Senator Mark Kirk, R-Il., even admitted that any funding bill was unlikely to pass until Republicans removed the controversial provision. Conservatives are proposing a hollow solution in order to maintain their war against Planned Parenthood.

House Republicans need to recognize that attacking Zika is two-pronged: make resources available and distributing them effectively. Planned Parenthood is only one of the potential beneficiaries, and in the meantime, all of the others are left waiting.

Take the public relations loss on this battle and approve a compromise bill, you could even try spinning it as a sacrifice in the name of world health.

Just stop fighting this unnecessary battle, because Zika victims — and the unborn children the GOP is usually so reticent to protect — are the ones caught in the crossfire.