BAD NEWS: Arkansas is among the worst. And Attorney General Leslie Rutledge is doing her part to make it so.

Now Attorney General Leslie Rutledge is working to deprive Ohio women of healthcare. If her work in Arkansas is any indication, it won’t be good for Ohio women.

She’s one of 15 Republican legal officers filing a legal petition in support of Ohio’s decision to stop flow of Medicaid money to Planned Parenthood for its array of health and family planning services for men and women. Federal law prohibits use of the money for abortions, so this won’t affect that.

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“I am proud to support Ohio’s decision to join Arkansas in stopping Medicaid dollars from funding Planned Parenthood,” said Attorney General Rutledge. “It is important that we stand together to protect the lives of the unborn and ensure that no taxpayer dollars fund abortions.”

Planned Parenthood is fighting loss of Medicaid dollars in Arkansas and elsewhere. It is a lie for Rutledge to say this is about the “unborn.” Indeed, you could more readily argue that the loss of family planning services could lead to an unwanted pregnancy and an abortion.

Interesting that this news arrives the same day I saw a survey by Wallet Hub that ranked Arkansas 44th worst state to have a baby. And even worse, the state ranked 49th in health care, but inched up a bit overall because costs are cheap here. The 49 ranking derives from scores including

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Infant Mortality Rate
Maternal Mortality Ratio
Rate of Low Birth-Weight
Rate of Preterm Births
Share of Children with All Seven Recommended Vaccines
Quality of Women’s Hospitals
Quality of Pediatric Neonatology Facilities
Midwives & Obstetrician-Gynecologists per Capita:
Pediatricians & Family Doctors per Capita
Fertility Clinics per Capita
Maternity practices Survey Score
Prenatal Care Access:
Share of Children Aged 9-35 Months who Received Developmental Screening using a Parent-Completed Screening Tool:

Prenatal care, to name one, is a service lost to women on Medicaid who depended on Planned Parenthood for medical services until Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Attorney General Leslie Rutledge went after their funding.

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Rutledge has also defended all the legal obstacles intended to put Planned Parenthood out of the abortion pill business as efforts to ensure good health care for Arkansas women.

Riiiiiiiight.

Planned Parenthood serves 60 percent of the women receiving federally backed family planning services in Ohio.  If she and her pals succeed in this legal action, there will be more abortions in Ohio, not fewer.

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