Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHNEIDER. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record links to three articles. The first is: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. ``Issue Brief: Crisis Pregnancy Centers.'' https:// schneider.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/schneider.house.gov/files/evo- media-document/crisis-pregnancy-centers-rep-schneider.pdf.

The second is from the AMA Journal of Ethics: ``Why Crisis Pregnancy Centers Are Legal but Unethical.'' https://schneider.house.gov/sites/ evo-subsites/schneider.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/why-crisis- pregnancy-cen ters-are-legal-but-unethical-rep-schnei der_0.pdf.

The third is an article by a number of doctors from Women's Health Reports: ``Truth and Transparency in Crisis Pregnancy Centers.'' https://schneider.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/schneider.house.gov/ files/evo-media-document/truth-and-transparency-in-crisis-preg nancy- centers-rep-schneider.pdf.

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Mr. SCHNEIDER. Mr. Speaker, I think it is shameful that my Republican colleagues have brought this bill to the floor to funnel money to so- called crisis pregnancy centers and away from programs that truly help families in need.

My Republican colleagues are saying that these centers help women. In reality, too many of these centers trick women before they even walk in the door.

They advertise themselves as real medical clinics. They are not. They might look like a normal doctor's office with ultrasound machines and employees wearing lab coats, but the coats are for show, and the employees are not medical professionals.

Mr. Speaker, don't be fooled. The primary purpose of these centers is to deceive women, and the organizations promoting these centers are the same organizations advocating for a national abortion ban.

Here is what should concern us all: These centers routinely spread medical misinformation and intentionally cause delays in accessing legitimate healthcare. Their theory is delay long enough and women in crisis are effectively forced to continue their pregnancies.

Now, Mr. Speaker, you will hear my Republican colleagues tout that these centers offer maternal care. They don't. Real maternal care requires real medical professionals who offer real, ethical, and comprehensive health services, who are licensed and regulated, and who don't have a personal bias counter to their patients' medical interest or decisions.

Yet, my Republican colleagues want to divert Federal TANF funding away from families in need and to these clinics instead. This is a disgraceful diversion. If my Republican colleagues were serious about helping children and families in need, let them speak out against this administration's illegal payment freeze for childcare and child welfare funding.

Right now, as we debate this bill on eligibility for TANF spending, the Trump administration is illegally holding up more than $10 billion in Federal funding for childcare and family assistance funding, including TANF funds, to States, including my own of Illinois, as well as California, New York, Colorado, and Minnesota.

The administration is illegally withholding payments to States for childcare, foster care, child protective services, and cash assistance to low-income families.

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Mr. SCHNEIDER. They are hiding behind false claims and unauthorized administrative barriers in order to inflict pain on States that the President dislikes.

Let me be clear. These payments are legally required under the law, and this freeze is unlawful.

The administration needs to pay the States what they are owed.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the bill.

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