Providing For Consideration Of H.R. 3495, Women's Public Health And Safety Act, And Waiving A Requirement Of Clause 6(a) Of Rule Xiii With Respect To Consideration Of Certain Resolutions Reported From The Committee On Rules

Floor Speech

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Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding the time.

Mr. Speaker, this bill very simply allows States to be partners in the Medicaid program. The Medicaid program is a partnership between the Federal Government and the States, except too often Washington tells the States exactly what they have to do.

This is one of those examples because this is not theoretical. There are two States that have attempted to defund with their use of taxpayer dollars in their States--these are not Federal tax dollars. They don't want their State's taxpayers dollars to fund Planned Parenthood. Instead, they want to fund other women's health services. They should be allowed to do that.

Why should the Secretary of Health and Human Services demand that one particular institution get funds?

Let's talk about that institution. The gentleman from Florida says, oh, this is going to deny women health care.

Let me tell you who is denying women health care in my district, in rural Lower Eastern Shore. We had a Planned Parenthood in Salisbury. They closed up in April. On their Web site, they said: The center in Easton will be open Monday through Friday. You can just get your care there, our Planned Parenthood Center, which is about 45 minutes up the road.

Mr. Speaker, just go on your tablet device and see what the hours at the Easton Planned Parenthood are that are supposed to develop this wonderful comprehensive health care to women in my district.

Now, if you want to go today, you are out of luck. They are closed. Now, if you went yesterday, they were open for 7 hours, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. That is nice. I guess they are bankers' hours. I guess we just assume that everybody is going to get their health care between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. So Monday they are open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday they are closed.

Mr. Speaker, if one of the women in my Lower Shore want to go on Wednesday, they are out of luck. They are closed. If they want to go on Thursday, they are in luck. They are open for 7 1/2 hours, from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. But if they want to go on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, they are out of luck because Planned Parenthood is closed. They are not delivering comprehensive services those days.

In fact, Mr. Speaker, as we know, Planned Parenthood doesn't deliver comprehensive women's health services. One of the most important services that you can deliver to a woman of child-bearing age is mammograms.

Not a single Planned Parenthood facility in this entire country has a mammography machine. Now, how do you deliver a mammogram without a mammography machine?

Mr. Speaker, it is an untruth. Planned Parenthood doesn't do comprehensive cancer screening. Because one of the most important screening techniques is mammography, and none of them can deliver it.

Let's contrast what the woman who is seeking comprehensive women's health care on the Lower Eastern Shore in Maryland--what her alternative is, because the gentleman from Florida mentions that our Medicaid patients won't be able to be seen if we pass this bill.

The alternative is our Federally qualified health center, our community health center, called Three Lower Counties. Now, if you go to Three Lower Counties today, you are actually in luck because they are open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and they have a mammography machine as well as the entire range of comprehensive services, with one exception. They don't do abortions. But, then again, the other Planned Parenthoods on the Eastern Shore of Maryland don't do it either.

So, in fact, if a woman who is on Medicaid really wants access to comprehensive health care in my district, they have got to go past Planned Parenthood unless--well, that is not true.

I guess, if Monday and Thursday they want their health care, they can go to Planned Parenthood. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, they can't.

But they could go to one of those at my community health center. In fact, nationwide there are only a little over 500 Planned Parenthood facilities.

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Mr. HARRIS. There are 13,000 community health centers, each of which has to have radiology facilities. That is how you get the Federal money.

So, in fact, if we really want to let our States, by their choice--we are not forcing States. We are not saying that a State can't fund Planned Parenthood.

Look, I come from the State of Maryland. We will probably choose to do it.

But a State that chooses not to should be given the option to tell their women: If you really want it, really want comprehensive care, well, go to one of the community health centers. That is all this bill does.

This doesn't limit care. This expands care because this tells women: You don't have to go to the Monday-and Thursday-only clinic that can't give you a mammogram. You can actually go get comprehensive care somewhere else, even if you are on Medicaid.

My biggest objection--and the gentlewoman from North Carolina hit it on the head--is look at what else Planned Parenthood does. They actually--and, as a physician, I find this unbelievable.

They will change the abortion technique in order to better harvest the fetal tissue that they can then sell. That should be so morally objectionable that we should allow States to limit that funding.

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