TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie today vetoed a bill that would have expanded the Medicaid program to more women seeking family planning services, saying it would be "financially irresponsible'' to spend more on a program running a $1 billion deficit. The veto sparked bitter remarks from female lawmakers and clinics operators who said the governor once again put his...
N.J. Gov. Chris Christie speaks to Star-Ledger reporters during a private interview in his office at the Statehouse on Jan. 7.TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie today vetoed a bill that would have expanded the Medicaid program to more women seeking family planning services, saying it would be "financially irresponsible'' to spend more on a program running a $1 billion deficit.
The veto sparked bitter remarks from female lawmakers and clinics operators who said the governor once again put his conservative ideology before women's health.
"On one hand he says he’s not opposed to birth control, but yet he shows up at a rally last week and joins a group speaking against women being trusted to make their own decisions about their reproductive health care,'' said Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Union) a bill sponsor. "He has also said that this issue is purely about money we don’t have, but all this bill would have done is leveraged the money already being spent in our Medicaid budget to obtain additional federal dollars to expand access to health care services for low-income women.”
Christie last summer vetoed a bill that would have restored $7.45 million in grants to family planning clinics that he eliminated from the state budget. Although he does not support abortion rights, the governor said he made the decision to help plug an enormous budget hole.
The doomed bill, (A3273), would have directed the state to apply to the federal government to expand its Medicaid program to include women earning as much as twice the poverty rate -- $29,140 for a family of two -- to provide birth control, cervical exams and other family planning services. Abortions would not be paid with this money, sponsors said.
New Jersey cannot afford to expand Medicaid, which already serves 1.3 million people, according to Christie's veto statement. "In Fiscal year 2012, it is anticipated that the state's Medicaid program faces a budget shortfall of $1.1 billion,'' according to the statement. Expanding Medicaid to more people "does not make sense from an overall fiscal and health care policy perspective.''
The state would need to put up $1.1 million in order to qualify for $15.1 million from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the bill said.
Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), also a sponsor, said she's frustrated the governor continues to speak inaccurately about the bill and its budget impact. "He said it would contribute to the Medicaid gap and is outside the budget, but we could use money in the budget as a match. We've said that time and time again,'' Weinberg said.
Christie also said women can go to federal qualified health centers and emergency rooms for these services, Weinberg said. "The centers themselves have said they have some centers that do not provide ob-gyn services,'' Weinberg said. "And who goes to the ER for birth control?"
Michele Jaker of the Planned Parenthood Federation of New Jersey noted that 27 states, including New York, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas, expanded their Medicaid program through this application process. "New Jersey can’t afford to walk away from new funding sources for women’s health.''
Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose commended Christie for axing the bill — particularly this week, given the release of a video Tuesday that documented a Planned Parenthood office manager in Perth Amboy advising a couple posing as a pimp and prostitute on how to receive abortion and birth control for 14-year-old prostitutes.
"This disgusting footage shows why government should be shutting these clinics down, not propping them up with public funds,” McHose said.
Marie Tasy from New Jersey Right to Life, an anti-abortion advocacy group, also praised Christie's veto.
"In vetoing this bill, Governor Christie has ensured that New Jersey taxpayers will not be complicit in the sexual abuse and exploitation of poor women and minors under the pretense of ‘women’s health,’” Tasy said.