evidence: One of Vice President Mike Pence’s defining moments during his one term as Indiana governor? Lackluster public health efforts, which led to a massive HIV outbreak. The failure was spurred by public health funding cuts and Pence’s moralistic stance against needle exchanges. [...] Pence first laid the groundwork for Indiana’s HIV outbreak as a member of Congress back in 2011, when the House passed his amendment to defund Planned Parenthood. Then, in 2013, Pence’s first year as governor of Indiana, Scott County’s one Planned Parenthood closed in the wake of public health spending cuts. Since that particular Planned Parenthood was also the county’s only HIV testing center, there was no longer a place for the county’s 24,000 residents to get tested. [...] Pence’s public health record in Indiana often seems to be overlooked nowadays ― a frustrating oversight, considering nearly 200 people contracted HIV while Pence twiddled his thumbs over harm reduction and de-emphasized public health spending.