Vote No to Defunding Planned Parenthood
Floor Speech
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Mr. LIEU. Thank you, Representative Clark, for your great work on this issue.
Madam Speaker, I rise to stand with Planned Parenthood.
Last month, as it became more and more clear that Republicans were willing to shut down the Federal Government to defund Planned Parenthood, I received a letter from a constituent of mine in Los Angeles. She gave me permission to read her letter. It says:
Dear Congressman Lieu,
I grew up in a small desert town that had a very high teen pregnancy and high school dropout rate. I made very poor choices as a young teenager, and I was drinking, partying, and ditching school at 15. During this time, I met a boy I cared for and started having sex. I knew that I didn't want to end up pregnant like a lot of young girls in my town, so I went to the one place I knew would help: Planned Parenthood. They made me feel comfortable there. They performed a thorough exam and gave me birth control pills. They also contacted me confidentially to tell me I had an STD and would need to take antibiotics. Without treatment, this STD could have made me permanently infertile.
I thank God that I straightened my act out and, by the end of high school, I was getting straight A's. I went to a good college, graduated from medical school, and began my residency. I met a great guy, who is now my husband, and again went to Planned Parenthood for birth control bills, STD screening, and Pap smears. Several years later, I finally went off the birth control pills, and my husband and I got pregnant with our first of two healthy children.
I feel compelled to share my story because of everything that Planned Parenthood has done for me in my lifetime. Planned Parenthood allowed me to make good, healthy reproductive decisions and avoid ever having to make a decision as to whether or not to abort an unwanted pregnancy.
That letter is from one of many constituents and from millions of women across America that have benefited from Planned Parenthood.
The two bills on the floor today that are attacking Planned Parenthood are a direct attack on American women. In reality, a vote to defund Planned Parenthood is a vote to deny health care, education, and opportunity to millions of Americans like my constituent.
I stand with American women and with Planned Parenthood in opposition to these two bills, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.
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