PBS is not only lamenting that its federal funding could be cut; it is also now lamenting that Planned Parenthood’s funding has been eliminated. On Tuesday’s Amanpour and Company, guest host Bianna Golodryga and New York Times reporter Caroline Kitchener lamented not only the GOP’s Planned Parenthood decision but also the three-year anniversary of Roe v. Wade’s demise.
Golodryga began, “Let's start with Planned Parenthood, because as we've covered for so many years now, it does more than just provide abortion care. Obviously, it provides a great deal of non-abortion services for women and family planning. Can you spell out what it means for the average viewer here who doesn't quite understand what happens if Medicaid funding is stripped?”
Kitchener simply repeated Planned Parenthood’s line, “Planned Parenthood says that it serves about a million women a year who have Medicaid. And, you know, as we know, Medicaid cannot cover abortions, but it can cover the wide array of other services that Planned Parenthood provides. So, things like birth control, Plan B, things like cancer screenings, and STD testing.”
She further repeated, “What Planned Parenthood is saying is that without this funding, approximately one-third of its clinics, 600 clinics total Planned Parenthood has, so one-third of those are at risk of closing. So, you have abortion rights advocates here talking about this as a, you know, quote, 'backdoor abortion ban,' because so many clinics will be forced to shutter.”
Planned Parenthood claims to love choice, so it now has a choice: it can do cancer screenings, or it can do abortions, but lest anyone think that PBS is only talking about abortion in the context of rape, incest, or medical emergencies, Golordyga later recalled:
Well, it has just been over three years now since Roe was overturned. You won a Pulitzer Prize for covering the impact of that decision over that course of time. And you wrote a widely read piece about a Texas teenager who wanted an abortion, who couldn't get one, and ultimately ended up having twins. Just talk to us about some of the real-life stories and the impact of this legislative rollback that it's had on the country.
Kitchener replied, “I think the impact is enormous, and we are just beginning to see what that looks like. I mean, you know, that young woman that I followed, you know, I'm still in touch with her and she now, you know, she has twin baby girls. I think they're, you know, and they're not babies anymore. They're three years old. And you know, she is living a life completely different than the one that she thought she would be living.”
In that article, her profile of Brooke Alexander shows a complicated figure. On one hand, she is portrayed as someone who supports abortion rights and a teenager who wanted an abortion out of nothing but convenience but couldn’t get one. There is plenty of discourse on the loss of freedom and assumption of responsibilities that come with not being a parent for both Brooke and her now husband, Billy. However, she is also shown being grateful her twins were born, ‘“Who’s to say what I would have done if the law wasn’t in effect?’ she said. ‘I don’t want to think about it… It’s really scary thinking that I wouldn’t have them.’”
PBS didn’t touch on the part of Brooke’s story where she shutters at the idea of the twins not being alive. Instead, Kitchener lamented, “We know that there are certainly, you know, many women out there who have become mothers when they were not intending to be, largely because of these bans. But even beyond that, you know, there are a lot of, you know, varied experiences that people have had because of these bans.”
Kitchener further decried:
They are scared that, you know, something might happen to them, and they don't want to go to the hospital. You know, right now, I think it's important to say that women cannot get arrested for having an abortion under the current abortion laws. But I think the overarching point is that there is so much fear around this procedure right now, especially in those states with bans.
While Golodryga intended Kitchener’s segment to be a solemn lament on the state of abortion in America, it was actually a promotion for taxpayer-subsidized abortion providence on taxpayer-subsidized TV in the name of convenience.
Here is a transcript for the June 8 show:
PBS Amanpour and Company
7/8/2025
BIANNA GOLODRYGA: So, let's start with Planned Parenthood, because as we've covered for so many years now, it does more than just provide abortion care. Obviously, it provides a great deal of non-abortion services for women and family planning. Can you spell out what it means for the average viewer here who doesn't quite understand what happens if Medicaid funding is stripped?
CAROLINE KITCHENER: Well, Planned Parenthood is the nation's largest abortion provider and this strips Planned Parenthood of federal funding. So, you know, Planned Parenthood says that it serves about a million women a year who have Medicaid. And, you know, as we know, Medicaid cannot cover abortions, but it can cover the wide array of other services that Planned Parenthood provides. So, things like birth control, Plan B, things like cancer screenings, and STD testing.
And what Planned Parenthood is saying is that without this funding, approximately one-third of its clinics, 600 clinics total Planned Parenthood has, so one-third of those are at risk of closing. So, you have abortion rights advocates here talking about this as a, you know, quote, "backdoor abortion ban,” because so many clinics will be forced to shutter.
…
GOLODRYGA: Well, it has just been over three years now since Roe was overturned. You won a Pulitzer Prize for covering the impact of that decision over that course of time. And you wrote a widely read piece about a Texas teenager who wanted an abortion, who couldn't get one, and ultimately ended up having twins. Just talk to us about some of the real-life stories and the impact of this legislative rollback that it's had on the country.
KITCHENER: I mean, I think the impact is enormous, and we are just beginning to see what that looks like. I mean, you know, that young woman that I followed, you know, I'm still in touch with her and she now, you know, she has twin baby girls. I think they're, you know, and they're not babies anymore. They're three years old. And you know, she is living a life completely different than the one that she thought she would be living.
But beyond her and beyond that situation, I mean, we know that there are certainly, you know, many women out there who have become mothers when they were not intending to be, largely because of these bans. But even beyond that, you know, there are a lot of, you know, varied experiences that people have had because of these bans.
I've talked to a lot of women who have, you know, were intent that they would get an abortion, even if they were in states with bans and they have, you know, ordered pills online and they have been scared because, you know, they — while that medication is, as we've said, safe and effective, they are scared that they're going to get arrested. They are scared that, you know, something might happen to them, and they don't want to go to the hospital.
You know, right now, I think it's important to say that women cannot get arrested for having an abortion under the current abortion laws. But I think the overarching point is that there is so much fear around this procedure right now, especially in those states with bans.
