Cecile Richards: “This is great news for women and for all Texans”

Cecile Richards: “This is great news for women and for all Texans”

New York, NY – Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Votes, hailed tonight’s announcement that Texas State Senator Wendy Davis, a longtime champion for Texas women, is running for governor:

"This is great news for women and for all Texans. The stakes for women’s health couldn't be higher in this election, and the differences between Wendy and her likely opponent couldn’t be clearer. No one fights harder for Texas women and families than Wendy, and we’re ‘all in’ to fight for her in this campaign.

“Wendy has fought for women throughout her career in public service, and she struck a nerve this summer because she was speaking for most Texans. Like Wendy, most Texans want to protect women’s health and keep politicians out of women’s personal medical decisions. Texans support keeping the Women’s Health Program strong so that women can get cancer screenings and basic health care, and they oppose the severe abortion restrictions that Wendy tried to stop this summer.

“Many women in Texas are suffering after years of these cuts to their basic health care. All of these attacks have created a large, diverse, strong, and growing group of Texans who demand that leaders protect women’s health. They know that their next governor will determine whether women can get cancer screenings, well-woman exams, birth control, and basic health care – and the difference couldn’t be clearer.”

BACKGROUND:

Texas has the nation’s highest rate of those without health insurance for the fifth straight year according to Gallup, and ranks near the bottom in terms of women receiving prenatal care.
Policies put in place by Governor Rick Perry and the state legislature have already forced 76 women’s health centers to shut their doors; these health centers provided lifesaving cancer screenings, birth control, STD testing, and basic preventive health care.
As a direct result of Perry’s actions, more than 130,000 women a year in Texas are no longer able to get medical care, because their visit to a women’s health center was the only health care they received.

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Political advertising paid for and authorized by Planned Parenthood Votes.