Vote "No" to Defunding Planned Parenthood

Floor Speech

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Mr. COHEN. Thank you very much for the time, and thank you for scheduling this important hour, Special Order.

Madam Speaker, this issue is extremely important to women, to men, to the Constitution, and to progress, and this week has been, unfortunately, very much an example of what the House has been doing throughout this session--messaging.

We are about to have a shutdown of government because of Planned Parenthood, and the cost to our economy and to people for a shutdown of the Federal Government is astronomical. The last shutdown, which I think was in 2013--it might have been 2011--cost hundreds of billions of dollars to the economy. The stock market fell, people lost jobs, lost income, and lost services all because of Planned Parenthood.

The bottom line is that Planned Parenthood is an outstanding organization that serves women in this Nation, in my State, and in my city--mostly low-income women and a lot of women of color.

There, they get their basic female healthcare services whether it is cervical cancer exams, breast cancer exams, sexually transmitted disease tests, family planning programs.

It is not about abortion. A very small part of it is abortion. It is not called ``Planned Abortion.'' It is called ``Planned Parenthood.''

Madam Speaker, most people are in need of those services. To cut them out, as they talked about, and to give them to community health centers is not the answer. That doesn't work as it is going to disadvantage a lot of women.

What we have had this week is a bill--the most recent bill--did anybody discuss the fact that this second bill didn't go to committee? I guess it is called the ``unborn baby bill,'' whatever it is. Has that been discussed?

Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. No.

Mr. COHEN. That is the amazing thing. This bill that has come up--that will come up tomorrow, I guess--never went to committee. In fact, it was kind of just sprung on us on Monday, and they didn't even get the language straight until maybe Tuesday.

Madam Speaker, in the Congress, we generally have committee meetings. You have a hearing on a bill almost always--that is what committees are for, is to have hearings--sometimes by a subcommittee and then, later, by a full committee--and a markup, sometimes by the subcommittee, always at least by the full committee. Then it goes to the Rules Committee, and then it comes to the floor.

When this Congress came about, the majority party made a big deal about how they were going to come in and change the way things were done and how there was going to be regular order.

Bills weren't going to be brought to the floor without any notice; committees would do their work; amendments would be offered; and people would get an opportunity to testify from the public.

This bill was given no markup in committee, no hearing in committee, no opportunity for the public to voice any concerns as to whether they were for it or against it, and no Congresspeople on the committee had a chance to voice their concerns.

In essence, it was sprung on the public. The bill will have a new definition of ``abortion''--unknown before in Federal law. That is a pretty major thing--with no hearing, no notice, no opportunity to address the issue, no opportunity to maybe bring in somebody who is an expert to say: You might have missed this. You might have missed that. This is the way it ought to be. No.

Madam Speaker, this week in Congress, the Republican side has basically said: We don't want to hear from the public. We don't want to hear from doctors. We don't want to hear from women. We don't want to hear from them on another bill we had up today. We don't want to hear from judges on something that affects the Federal courts, where the judges, in reviewing it, voted by 85 percent ``bad idea''--no judges, no lawyers, no doctors, no women, no public--because that side of the House knows how to do everything.

They know how to define ``abortion.'' They know how to run the courts. They know how to run women's lives. Choice and reproduction should be a decision between a woman, her family, her conscience, and her doctor, not what this side wants.

What this side wants is to repeal Roe v. Wade. They want to do away with a woman's right to abortion. That is what this is about. They pick these other issues to talk about, but that is what they really want. If that happens, it is going to be no different than alcohol prohibition in the twenties and marijuana today.

Alcohol was illegal. So what happened? People got alcohol and they drank, but they drank because organized crime supplied it for them--no taxes, lots of organized crime, lots of killings between organized crime.

Marijuana. Do people have problems getting marijuana? People don't have problems getting marijuana. It is everywhere. It was at George Bush's school. It is everywhere. It is not hard to get, but it gives the cartels a way to sell it. It happens.

Madam Speaker, when abortion was illegal in this country, wealthy women could afford to go to Mexico or wherever it was legal and get abortions. Poor people went to get abortions, but they had to go to somebody who maybe didn't have a clean area in which to do the procedure or the experience or the ability. Poor women went to back alleys and oftentimes had health detriments because of it and sometimes lost their lives.

So abortion is not going to be outlawed in this Congress, I don't think, but that is what they would like to do. Even if it is outlawed, it is still going to happen. If it happens, it is going to happen for the rich, and the poor are going to get the worst services.

You can't take your morality and tell the American public, when they want some service, some opportunity, some freedom, that they can't have it, because they will find it. It will just be through a roundabout way.

Madam Speaker, I thank Ms. Clark for having this Special Order. I am going to always support Roe v. Wade and support Planned Parenthood. It does a lot for the women in my district. As I said, it is one of the best organizations in our country, and I believe that.

They help women with services they otherwise couldn't get. In a lot of States like mine, where the Affordable Care Act has not been extended through the expansion of Medicaid, it is even more difficult for poor women to get medical services and even life-saving services.

So thank you. We will continue to message and continue to fight and hope the American public realizes that what is going on here is shutting them out--no voice, no message--simply activity.

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