Planned Parenthood

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address a very important issue that continues to trouble the American people, and that is the Republican obsession of denying a woman and families' access to certain healthcare services like birth control.

   Republicans' outdated views on family planning do nothing to empower women and nothing for families in their success in the 21st century. The latest round in the Republicans' battle against women's access to health care is, yet again, an attempt to eliminate Federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

   This debate has been riddled with lies and deliberate misinformation designed to shock the American people, while needlessly demonizing one of the Nation's leading women's healthcare providers.

   Mr. Speaker, I think it is time that we talk about a few things and clear up some issues and talk about the facts in this. Since its inception, Planned Parenthood has empowered millions of women nationwide by providing affordable access to contraception. Cutting off funding would cripple Planned Parenthood's ability to provide this crucial service for our Nation's women.

   The two primary sources of Federal funding for Planned Parenthood come from two programs, Medicaid and Title X Family Planning. These programs were created as a safety net to provide low-income individuals with access to critical medical services that they would otherwise be forced to forego due to their high cost, such as birth control.

   Together, these programs account for over 40 percent of Planned Parenthood's operating budget. Stripping these dollars would severely decrease Planned Parenthood's ability to provide care for 2.7 million people that they serve every year.

   Let me tell you what this means. This means millions of the Nation's poor women would not only be at risk of losing affordable contraceptive services and counseling, but also their access to breast and cervical cancer screenings, as well as testing and treatment for STDs.

   It is important to understand that, for those who are uninsured, this is the only way to get this lifesaving care. This would mean 400,000 fewer pap smears for women, 500,000 fewer breast exams, and 4.5 million fewer STD tests and treatments nationwide.

   Let me be clear. It is not just Democrats' districts that will be affected. If you go outside of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, these smaller cities and suburban areas and rural areas, those are Republican districts; they have low-income women, and they will be cut off from this funding and this treatment.

   All this is at risk because of Republicans' objections to Planned Parenthood providing safe and legal access to abortions. This is less than 3 percent of what this organization does. In accordance with Federal law, no Federal funds go to cover abortion services.

   Another faulty argument made by Republicans is that the Nation's community healthcare centers could absorb the work that Planned Parenthood currently does.

   I love community health centers, and I appreciate the work that they do because they really do serve the underserved, but the idea that these facilities would be able to provide adequate services to nearly 3 million additional people who would suddenly be without care is simply unimaginable.

   Community health centers rely on other sources for affordable care to alleviate the strains of residents' needs, sources like Planned Parenthood. This is not imagined. I have seen it in the State of Texas.

   I have visited community healthcare centers in the district that I serve, and they are very overwhelmed as a result of the void for healthcare services purposely created by the Republican State legislature. One of the things you always hear Republicans hollering about is how much they want to save taxpayers money.

   Let me tell you something. What happened in my State of Texas in 2012, Governor Rick Perry and the Republican State legislature banned Planned Parenthood from participating in the Medicaid Women's Health Program, a joint initiative that saved Texas millions of dollars in Medicaid prenatal and delivery costs through the prevention of unplanned pregnancies.

   Today, 30,000 fewer women are receiving that care, Medicaid claims are down by 26 percent, and Texas taxpayers are now paying the full price to support the State's community health centers. Republicans wasted lots of money.

   Where does that leave us today? I will tell you a lot of these antiabortion groups and their political allies have created this partisan debate by releasing a series of deceitfully edited ``undercover'' videos casting Planned Parenthood in a negative light.

   Let me tell you that these videos are a sham; they are lies, and they do absolutely nothing to help increase access to the critical services that Planned Parenthood provides for women.

   Documents and testimony submitted to the Energy and Commerce Committee during a wasteful and unnecessary investigation show that absolutely no evidence exists to substantiate claims that Planned Parenthood violated the law in any way. In fact, their fetal tissue donation program is not only compliant with Federal law, but goes well beyond the law's requirements.

   Mr. Speaker, I urge my Republican colleagues to cease their fruitless fight against birth control--because we know that this is really what this is all about--and Planned Parenthood and women's health and get to the job of governing.

   We all want women to have access to the health care they need to stay healthy for their family because, let me tell you, in my family and in families around the country, that if mom is not healthy, the rest of the family is not healthy.

   That is why I choose to put people before politics and stand with women, families, and all the people of Texas and America in my support of Planned Parenthood.

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