Vote ``No'' To Defunding Planned Parenthood

Floor Speech

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Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, there has been a lot of talk about defunding Planned Parenthood. Some Republicans have made this such a priority that they are vowing to shut down our government, shut down our programs for veterans and hinder their ability to access services, WIC programs serving moms and babies, curtail services for domestic violence, and close our national parks and landmarks.

The last Republican shutdown cost our economy $24 billion, but many of the GOP's Presidential candidates said in their debate just last night that defunding Planned Parenthood is a priority.

We are not talking about abortion here. We are talking about access to health care. Under current law, Federal money cannot be used for the coverage for abortion except in the most extreme circumstances of rape, incest, or the possibility of the death of the mother. Even though most Americans disagree with that restriction and believe firmly that decisions surrounding pregnancy should be between a woman, her doctor, and her faith, that is not the law of the land currently.

So if we are not talking about abortion, what are we talking about? What is this threat that will be stopped by cutting off all Federal funding for Planned Parenthood? What we are talking about is denying health care to the 2.7 million patients who received care just last year at Planned Parenthood.

More than 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does is preventative care. This includes wellness exams, cancer screenings, contraception, prenatal care, and testing and treatment for STIs. Just last year, Planned Parenthood had over 2 million contraception patients, performed approximately 3.7 million STI tests, 370,000 Pap tests, and 450,000 breast exams. These are the types of services patients receive at Planned Parenthood, and this preventive health care is what the majority would like to get rid of by defunding it.

That is what is most important about this debate: the care that patients receive, the care that one in five American women will receive from Planned Parenthood at some point in their life.

I would like to welcome my colleague, at this point, from New Jersey's 12th District, Congresswoman Watson Coleman. She is a strong voice for women and families. I am proud to call her a friend and a colleague, and I yield to the gentlewoman.

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Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. I thank the gentlewoman from New Jersey.

I want to reiterate something that the Congresswoman said, that this is really a thinly veiled extremist position. What we are talking about is exactly as the gentlewoman from New Jersey put it. We are talking about relitigating rights that are established under the law and that have really nothing to do with abortion. They are having everything to do with the way that one in five American women receives her health care. And Planned Parenthood not only has a huge reach in the patients that they serve, but they historically serve low-income and underserved populations.

For example, in 2013, 78 percent of Planned Parenthood patients had incomes of 150 percent of poverty or less. To put that in real terms, that is an income of a little over $36,000 dollars a year for a family of four. So not only does Planned Parenthood provide critical services to low-income families, but they also have a geographic reach to help ensure all patients have a healthcare access point.

Nationwide, they represent 54 percent of all health centers in rural areas, medically underserved areas, and health provider shortage areas. And in some areas, they are even a larger part of the healthcare system. In Alabama, Washington, D.C., Delaware, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Rhode Island, and Wyoming, they are 100 percent of the health centers in rural areas, medically underserved areas, and health provider shortage areas. That is why Planned Parenthood is so critical.

I am delighted to yield to my colleague from California's 33rd District. Congressman Lieu represents communities in Los Angeles. He is an Air Force veteran and Reservist, president of the freshman class of Democrats, and, as a California State senator, and now as a Congressman, he has had an unparalleled record on women's issues.

I yield to the gentleman.

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Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. I thank the gentleman from Tennessee for his words and for his commitment to women and their access to health care and for pointing out the confounding thing about defunding Planned Parenthood, which is that we are not even talking about abort ion, as we have already restricted that Federal funding.

Madam Speaker, we are talking about access to health care to underserved women, to low-income women, who are trying to get general wellness checkups, who are trying to have cancer screenings, who are trying to access health care.

It is Planned Parenthood that fills that void in our underserved populations, in our rural areas. That is where they make a critical difference.

You are absolutely right in that the messaging that this is somehow about something else is completely hiding the fact that we are bringing bills to the floor without committee hearings, that we are not being transparent, and that we are misleading the American public about what this debate is about.

I am delighted that we also have another champion for working families and a great voice for the communities he serves.

I yield to my colleague from California's 36th District, Congressman Ruiz.

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Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts. I thank the gentleman from California for sharing his experience as a medical doctor and as someone who stands with Planned Parenthood.

Thank you for joining us.

Congressman Ruiz raises an interesting point about looking at our system of health care.

Part of the proposal from the Republicans is that this is easy, that we can simply take the money from Planned Parenthood and give it to community health centers, but there is simply not the capacity in the system to handle these extra patients.

Currently, more than half of Medicaid providers are not offering appointments to new Medicaid patients, but two-thirds of the States report difficulty in ensuring enough providers, including OB/GYN care.

Madam Speaker, this hurts low-income women especially hard because 60 percent of Planned Parenthood patients access care through Medicaid and/or Title X, and 35 percent of women view their OB/GYN as their main source of care.

So what we are talking about here is not abortion, but women's health care, preventative measures that save lives.

We know that over 90 percent of the services Planned Parenthood provides are preventative. We know that they serve underserved areas.

We know that there isn't enough capacity to see these patients in other settings and that eliminating funding for Planned Parenthood would mean over 390,000 patients would no longer receive health care.

If all of this sounds crazy to you, you are not alone. It is why I came down here tonight, and I thank my colleagues who joined me.

It is time that we reveal the falsehoods of this argument and defeat these efforts--these radical efforts--that are threatening to shut down our government in order to defund Planned Parenthood, which carries so much of our healthcare system for women in this country and especially for low-income women.

It is time we stand up, debunk the lies and the mysteries that we are being told, and let women have the healthcare access that they need and deserve.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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