Republicans plan to slash funding for Planned Parenthood, health screening (Updated)
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The GOP plans on doing everything in their power to strip women of their right to choose. They are using their role in Congress to fulfill their ideological needs and to pander to their Right Wing Christian base. In so doing they will be depriving women of necessary health resources including cancer screening, counseling, and etc.
This is little more than a thoughtless and vindictive act aimed at women who don’t happen to believe the nonsense put forth by the Bible Bangers who insist that a mere blastocyte is human life. It is yet another attempt by the religious crazies and their Republican slaves to force their wrongheaded and twisted ideology on women in need.
I urge all to write or call their representatives, Republicans and Democrats, and ask them to vote against this horrific bill. Here is the Raw Story:
The US House of Representatives is expected to pass an amendment to the Full Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011 by this weekend that would cut millions of dollars in funding to Planned Parenthood for contraceptives, reproductive health counseling and cancer screenings.
The amendment eliminates all $327 million in funding for Title X, a family planning program that began 40 years ago under President Richard Nixon. And while Planned Parenthood receives millions of dollars from the program, Title X funds cannot be used for abortion services.
The money is to be used for noncontroversial family planning services, mostly for low-income families.
“I am aware that Title X family planning funds are eliminated in this bill, but eliminating Title X funding has never been my goal,” Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), who offered the amendment, said on the House floor Thursday.
“I support the important work of Title X clinics across the country that provide breast cancer screenings, HIV testing, counseling, and other valuable family planning services.”
“My focus has and will remain on denying taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood or any organization that provides or promotes abortion as a means of birth control,” he added.
The amendment is attached to a bill that is needed to fund the government for the rest of the current fiscal year and considered “must pass” legislation.
“Congress should use the continuing resolution to create jobs, not to further the extreme assault on women’s reproductive rights by eliminating the cost-effective family planning program,” Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) said.
The abortion rights group NARAL said the legislation would lead to more unwanted pregnancies by cutting funding for contraceptives.
“The new anti-choice House leadership now wants to take away birth control and cancer screenings from millions of American women and men,” Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL, said. “While these politicians attack abortion coverage from every angle, they now want to deny funding for birth control, even though that’s the best way to prevent unintended pregnancy. Americans will not stand for this blatant hypocrisy.”
During the debate on the House floor Thursday, a number of Republicans made reference to a video recently produced by Live Action, an anti-abortion group run by 22-year-old Lila Rose.
The video accused Planned Parenthood of aiding in the sex trafficking of minors, even though its undercover sting had already been uncovered by the family planning organization.
The video “proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Planned Parenthood intentionally breaks state and federal laws and covers up the abuse of the young girls it claims to serve,” Live Action’s Rose said in a statement.
Republicans have introduced numerous bills in the House and Senate aimed at reducing women’s right to reproductive health services or eliminating access to abortions altogether.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MI) proposed legislation in January to recognize that life begins at the moment of conception and is entitled to legal protection from that point forward. The bill, known as “The Life at Conception Act,” seeks to terminate the protections for abortion created by the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade.
Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), chairman of the House Pro-Life Caucus, introduced another bill in the House of Representatives that would limit access to abortions by expanding federal restrictions on abortion funding.
The “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” which was given the designation HR 3, would impose a prohibition on all federal spending for abortion care, deny federal subsidies to private health insurance plans that cover abortions, and impose tax penalties on those who pay for abortion care. It would greatly expand the restrictions on federal funding for abortion created by the Hyde Amendment, which was passed by Congress in 1976.
With prior reporting by Sahil Kapur.
Now that you have read this story let us know what you think by leaving a comment. I will be sending this link to as many representatives that I can, and the more support the better.
UPDATE: The bill passed in the house today by a vote of 240-185. Thanks to Stimpson for the update.
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*sigh*
WASHINGTON – By a vote of 240 to 185, the House of Representatives approved a measure Friday that would defund the health and abortion services group Planned Parenthood. …
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/18/house-votes-to-cut-off-funding-for-planned-parenthood/
Remember this still has to go through the senate and you have fierce pro choice advocates in there. Gillibrand for one will not let this stand, neither will Barbara Boxer or Al Franken and Chuck Shumer. We still have the majority in the senate so not all hope is lost, but keep calling these tools out. Men you especially, since your voices are more important in this fight than the ones it will affect, I am sad to say.
I’m with Jess, as always. I channeled her rant. And, yes, the “bill” has not yet passed the Senate. Seeing Boxer speak live, she’s no one I’d want to cross. She is an amazingly wonderful and powerful individual.
What worries me is if the right learned anything from Pelosi brilliantly pushing through health care bill. If those rat bastards learned anything from her, we’re in trouble.
I’ve written and said more times than I can count: Why are there so many women against choice? Can anyone answer the question? For me, that women are against abortion is even worse.
Bro, I’m not upset at all and admire your knowledge about inmates and prisons. I had major challenges with Time Warner’s multinational corprotocratic ass for two weeks when we moved. When my phone worked, the internet was down; when I could access the internet, my phone would not work.
After I called the president’s office, both suddenly got handled quickly. Funny how well that worked…
Stella trust me, they learned nothing from Pelosi. Boehner couldn’t even get a whip count of the votes he had for a couple votes last week. Some freshmen talking about, oh we were voting I didn’t know that.
He’s playing out the clock, so they can shut the government down. Now here is cynical Jess,(where would I be without her) wonder if big pharma has had anything to do with the whole let’s defund PP. Birth control prices may skyrocket, hey it could happen. I think they should go ahead and defund Viagra, while they are at it. After all, God intended the winkie to rise without help, so boys yer on yer own getting it up so to speak. Hey now, fair is fair is it not?
Right along party lines. Regardless what the senate does the president will never sign off on a budget that includes such a clause.
If he does, which I doubt because he is pro choice and always has been, he will lose a lot of voters next year. I just called BB’s office and gave them an earful about when it gets there in the senate strip it out. Called Boehner’s office too and told him he has a woman to thank for being here, how could he stand by and watch us become second class citizens,is he too drunk to be paying attention YEAH I went there. No I don’t feel bad about it, staffer well we’ll pass along the message.
I was thinking about this, pubbies got ACORN defunded with bullshit, they now have another one of the boogey men PP under the belt. When are we going to call for defunding of abstinence programs, or Halliburton like Speier said in her talking last night. Damn, but am I a pissed off woman today.
Watch Jackie and see how it’s done after watching the guy, yes the guy talking about abortion and how it is a bad thing.
http://www.dailykos.com/tv/w/002825/
Ok you asked for the opinion, now you get it 🙂
These fucks are not going to be satisfied till we are all wearing fucking burquas covering up everything lest we tempt the men and converting to their sick version of what the world should look like regarding women. Know what I wish, oh I wish some really progressive pro choice woman would come up with an amendment, that we get to chop off a dick or two if a man gets a woman pregnant and forces her to have children.
See how fast this worm would turn when the republican frank and beans are involved in the equation. Admit it, you guys here after reading that, kind of just gasped and looked at your junk didn’t you? No need to get bent, you’re not the ones wanting choice taken away from us but you see what I’m getting at with that analogy. That is what it would feel like, if you had no say in what happens to your body. This is a coordinated effort I am now convinced of it, to see how far they can go to get us back to alleyway abortions and death of women. Every last one of these fucks came out of a woman and here they are, trying to screw us up.
What makes this so very heinous is the fact that PP abortions are less than 5% of what they do there. Too many of us young women, myself included at times, forget what the fight was like before Roe V Wade was legal and we have come to expect the right of autonomy over our bodies. We just take it for granted we have these things available to us. Those women that fought for choice, can’t be all alone in this fight. Maybe it’s time for another women’s rights march to happen. I’d certainly be up for that.