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Correcting the Enrollment of H.R. 1473

Floor Speech

Date: April 14, 2011
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Abortion Reproduction

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Mrs. ROBY. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor today to stand on the House floor as one of the sponsors of House Concurrent Resolution 36.

Since coming to Congress, I have come to the floor several times to talk about my stance on abortion and the need to defund Planned Parenthood, and I am pleased to be a part of the lead on this important issue today.

Mr. Speaker, I am unapologetically pro-life and will continue to do what is necessary to protect the lives of the unborn. Every 2 minutes, a life is lost because of an abortion. That adds up to 3,300 lives a day or 1.2 million a year.

I believe I have an obligation to do everything I can to fight for the unborn and to prevent taxpayer money from funding abortions. Therefore, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of the piece of legislation in front of us today. It would prevent Federal funds in H.R. 1473 from going to Planned Parenthood, an organization that provides more abortions than any other organization in the United States.

About one of every four U.S. abortions is performed at a Planned Parenthood location or one of their affiliates. Data shows that since 1970, Planned Parenthood has performed at least 5.3 million abortions, and that includes over 332,000 abortions in 2009 alone. Planned Parenthood has made plain the centrality of abortion to its mission, mandating that every affiliate have at least one clinic performing abortions within the next 2 years.

My colleagues opposed to this piece of legislation will claim that the money that Planned Parenthood has been receiving is not used for abortion. I disagree. Money is fungible. By taking away Federal funds from Planned Parenthood, they will have to spend more of their private money on basic services and overhead costs rather than diverting those funds toward abortions.

From 2000 to 2009, Planned Parenthood saw an 80 percent increase in taxpayer funding that resulted in a 69 percent increase in the number of abortions and a 61 percent decrease in the number of adoption referrals.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on preventing Planned Parenthood access to Federal funds in fiscal year 2011.

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