House Majority Leadership Pushing More Restrictions on Sexual and Reproductive Health Care One Week After Voters Show Up To Protect Abortion Rights

Washington, D.C. — Last Tuesday, voters across the country showed up in droves to protect abortion rights. But the anti-abortion House majority clearly didn’t get the message. They are currently debating a federal spending bill that attacks access to sexual and reproductive health care, including a measure to “defund” Planned Parenthood. The House version of the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) appropriations bill has no chance of passing in the Senate.

Statement from Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund:

“The anti-abortion House Republican majority really can’t help themselves: they’d rather force through their extreme agenda than govern. It’s only been one week since the election where voters again made it clear that they do not want politicians restricting access to health care. But the anti-abortion majority clearly didn’t get the message and they are up to their usual antics. Attacking people’s access to crucial reproductive health care is not what they were sent there to do.”

The LHHS funding bill, which the House is debating and will vote on soon, includes dangerous measures designed to:

• Eliminate funding for the Title X family planning program;
• “Defund” Planned Parenthood, blocking people that rely on public health programs from accessing critical preventive services at Planned Parenthood health centers;
• Eliminate funding for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, while funding abstinence-only programs;
• Restrict access to gender affirming care; 
• Prohibit Medicaid from covering abortion through the discriminatory Hyde Amendment, and attempt to expand the harmful Weldon Amendment;
• Interfere with postgraduate training in abortion care, an essential component of medical education necessary to ensure the health and well-being of pregnant people;
• Stop implementation of Biden administration executive orders intended to increase access to abortion care for people impacted by state bans post-Dobbs decision;
• Restrict potentially lifesaving medical research; and
• Prohibit the implementation of the Biden administration’s executive order to prevent and combat discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.

This morning, nearly forty organizations supporting reproductive health, rights, and justice released a joint statement condemning the bill’s attacks on sexual and reproductive health care.

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Planned Parenthood Action Fund is an independent, nonpartisan, not-for-profit membership organization formed as the advocacy and political arm of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The Action Fund engages in educational, advocacy, and limited electoral activity, including grassroots organizing, legislative advocacy, and voter education.