The greatest nation on earth nearly had to turn off the lights last week. Please take note of the reason. It wasn't because of terrorism. It wasn't the aftermath of a tsunami or an earthquake. And it certainly was not -- despite some claims -- because of a financial crisis. No. The most powerful nation on the planet nearly went out of business because a few fringe members of Congress wanted to show off their spite for Planned Parenthood. The sideshow seemed finished Friday night, when President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid stood firm for women's health and the House leadership folded a losing hand.
Just days later, the small band of believers (House leadership in tow) are back with a fresh attack on Planned Parenthood. This week, at the insistence of House Speaker John Boehner, the House and Senate will vote on a stand-alone version of the same measure that Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana tried to link to last week's short-term spending plan. The measure would explicitly bar one of the nation's oldest, most trusted and most cost-effective family-planning providers from participating in any federal health program. Period. Pence and his allies claim the measure would somehow reduce federal support for abortion, but the public now knows this is a ruse. Congress has prohibited federal funding for abortion for more than 30 years. This measure would cut off access to birth control -- thus increasing the need for abortion -- while also eliminating lifesaving cancer screenings and other vital services. That's not just aggressive. It's bad for women's health.
The Planned Parenthood Mike Pence wants to eliminate looks nothing like the Planned Parenthood that three million patients rely on each year. One American woman in five has received care from a Planned Parenthood health center. Abortion -- a safe, legal procedure -- makes up three percent of our services, not the "well over 90 percent" that Senator Jon Kyl recently claimed on the Senate floor and later had to retract. The rest of our services are basic preventive health care -- affordable, high-quality care that helps avert serious illness rather than treat it at advanced stages. Each year we provide nearly two million screenings to detect breast and cervical cancer early. We also provide nearly four million tests and treatments for sexually transmitted infections, including half a million HIV tests. And we ensure that nearly 2.5 million people have access to affordable birth control, which reduces unintended pregnancy.
What would Pence's proposal mean to the women we serve? Two thirds of them, the two million whose care is covered by Medicaid and other federal health programs, would lose all access to our health centers. And because Planned Parenthood is the only provider available to many of these women, the loss would be more than an inconvenience. Cutting off our services would amount to cutting off their health care, with tragic and predictable outcomes: more cancer deaths, more undiagnosed HIV and untreated STDs, and more unintended pregnancies, which means more abortion.
Why would anyone pursue such an agenda? Pence may spin this as an effort to control federal spending, but it's nothing of the kind. In fact, his proposal would cost the government money. Family planning saves taxpayers nearly $4 for every $1 invested. Killing family planning would eliminate those savings, and locking Planned Parenthood out of federal programs would make the programs themselves less efficient. We provide high-quality care for less money than other publicly funded providers charge. If all of our three million patients had to get preventive health care from other publicly funded providers, the total cost could rise by as much as $200 million a year.
The recent assault on Planned Parenthood, a 95-year-old organization, has provoked a powerful backlash. Women and men from every community have come forward in vast numbers to stand with us, and reasonable policymakers from both sides of the aisle have paid attention. Continuing these senseless attacks is not only wrongheaded but politically foolish. An April 11 poll by CNN shows that 65 percent of Americans favor continued support for Planned Parenthood. And why wouldn't they? The attack on Planned Parenthood shows indifference to women's health. If adopted, it will deny millions of women access to cancer screenings and birth control. In many communities, it will eliminate a provider of affordable, high-quality care. And it will hit women and families struggling in this economy especially hard.
It's time to end this political vendetta. It's wasting valuable time when our congressional leaders should be focused on getting folks back to work. America has real problems to address, and voters know what they are. The House leadership needs to part ways with these extremists and get back to the business of governing.
Cecile Richards is president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Follow Cecile Richards on Twitter: www.twitter.com/cecilerichards
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/563858/virginia_attorney_general_halts_payments_to_nonprofits/
And even if "their money" did, it doesn't give them the right to pass judgment and micro-manage the funds. Paying taxes is a civic duty, how it's used is up to Congress and they'll make the appropriate decisions in accordance with the will of society and morals of society. If Congress decides to fund PP and you don't like PP, don't use the services at PP - should you go any how, don't use any services with which you don't agree.
Incidentally, while abortion *is* legal in every state, it is *not* easily available. In many areas and for many women, it's Planned Parenthood or nothing. Either there is no other provider available, or an abortion would be available only through a private physician, which is basically cost prohibitive if you don't have insurance coverage.
Many other social programs are being cut from the budget as well, programs that are just as vital to our infrastructure, programs that no one wants us to know about. These programs are having their budgets slashed, or in some cases they are being shelved all together. Programs like the EPA, Dept of Housing/Urban Devlp., Consumer Product Safety, Dept of Agriculture, Dept of Commerce/Justice/Science, Dept of Transportation, Dept of Ed., Dept of Health/Human Serv., Dept of Energy, Treasury Dept., Veterans Affairs, Dept of Labor, and LOTS more! http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/post/whats-getting-cut-in-the-fy-2011-budget/2011/04/11/AFMIynLD_blog.html
It's obvious that the Conservative Party is using the most ideological premise they could find in order to gain popular opinion of their Base and to fight the passing of the Federal Budget, So they chose health care, specifically women's health care, more specifically women's health care provided by PP who provides abortion services, even though that particular service isn't covered by Federal funding; prohibited by the Hyde Amendment.http://wwwÂ.nrlc.org/Âahc/HydeAmÂendmentTexÂt.html
They chose to go after a sector of society who they thought no one would defend. Of course, normal. Wrong!
F& F
Tr0lls, go read the Hyde Ammendment. Then you can stop using "I don't want my tax dollars paying for abortion".
Also, Planned Parenthood DOES NOT carry out MOST abortions in this country!
They are done at a gynecologist's office!
Egads, try to look up any facts and the first 2 pages are all right wing hate sites!
Also, if PP does 25% of the annual abortion procedures, who is doing the other 75% and where is the republicans' outrage on that?
PP here has a mainly educational and facilitating role.
Unless you think abortions are fun.
Like it or not, sex has consequences.
In fact, everything has consequences, so I don't know where you get the "consequence free" meme.
"Eugenic sterilization is an urgent need ... We must prevent multiplication of this bad stock."
Margaret Sanger, April 1933 Birth Control Review.
"Eugenics is … the most adequate and thorough avenue to the solution of racial, political and social problems.
Margaret Sanger. "The Eugenic Value of Birth Control Propaganda." Birth Control Review, October 1921, page 5.
:-)
I've never heard anyone suggest this (except the Chinese).
Furthermore, we need to challenge the constitutionality and start repeal processes for any and all state laws that presume to make medical decisions for women as if they were mentally incapable of making medical decisions for themselves. Only a woman and her physician should decide what is best for her, what treatments or counseling she might need. Anything less is to treat women as wards of the state and second class citizens.
Tax payers do not get to decide where their tax dollars go. I do not want my tax dollars supporting Christian schools, but they do. I do not want them buying weapons systems when Americans are homeless, hungry, lacking access to education and healthcare, but we do.
FUND all medical services, including abortion, and use tax dollars to do it.
That is what this debate is about ... and it's much more than about abortion.
It's about our representatives in Congress actually listening to us and learning that we are serious about cutting out Federal spending ... on a whole host of things.
WE get to decide. That's what this debate is about. You call your legislators and I'll call mine.
Fanned and Faved.
You said 3 million Americans rely on Planned Parenthood per year.
That's 1% of the population.
You mean to tell me our Congress (both sides) are holding up budget negotiations over a private entity that provides services for 1% of the population? I'm sorry, THAT'S INSANE.
Planned Parenthood and hundreds of thousands of other businesses should receieve no Federal subsides whatsoever. None. Nada. Zip. Not because of abortion, but because we should not be subsidizing private entitites, even 'non-profit' ones.
From the lead in: The Planned Parenthood Mike Pence wants to eliminate looks nothing like the Planned Parenthood that three million patients rely on each year.
That's 1% of the population (less actually since we are over 3 million now). I think the hostage takers are on the Planned Parenthood side. And they are no different than the hundreds of thousands of other SPECIAL INTERESTS who are holding our Federal government hostage over their pet projects.
Enough.
No more subsidies for any special interests, private businesses, etc.
Or churches!
Just make sure the EPA and other agencies do not continue to operate like organized crime syndicate that extorts money from big business and worse creates such paperwork that virtually eliminate SMB's from ever entering the energy or ag businesses. That is the real problem