Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this dangerous H.R. 6918.

This legislation is the House Republicans' latest attempt to spread inaccurate information while advancing their extreme anti-abortion agenda and attacking reproductive freedom.

This bill would divert TANF funding that is intended to help struggling families and children, the very families that face higher maternal and infant death rates than some Third World countries. It would divert funding to help these families to fund anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers whose sole purpose is to coerce, deceive, and manipulate pregnant patients into carrying their pregnancies to term. These centers often share biased and medically inaccurate information, purposefully misleading patients into believing they can get the healthcare they need. Abortion care is healthcare.

These centers delay care, deny access to qualified medical professionals, and that is critically dangerous for pregnant patients who need timely healthcare services. These centers are unethical and jeopardize patients' well-being, yet extreme House Republicans want the Federal Government to support them at the expense of the vulnerable children and families, again, who face higher infant mortality rates than in many Third World countries.

This legislation exemplifies Republicans' bad-faith efforts. Essential TANF funds should not be used to help these programs instead of helping needy families. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''

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