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Members of Congress Stand with Planned Parenthood

For Immediate Release: Aug. 14, 2015


Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid: “To Republicans who are trying to defund Planned Parenthood: Good luck with that.”

WASHINGTON, DC – As the Senate moves toward a vote that would strip Planned Parenthood health centers of federal grants and Medicaid reimbursement -- leaving millions across the country without health care, members of Congress are voicing their support for the non-profit health care provider.

A poll released this week shows that 64 percent of voters, including 72 percent of Independents, do not agree with Congressional defunding attempts. In addition, the poll showed that the push to strip funding away from the basic reproductive health care the group provides is a political liability --- by 58 percent to 26 percent, voters say they would support a candidate who favors continued funding of Planned Parenthood over one who favors ending government funding.

A roundup of some of the statements of support from members of Congress are below:

  • Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV): To Republicans who are trying to defund Planned Parenthood: Good luck with that. Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood are just another GOP attack on women's health.

  • Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA): “It does have that [ACORN] feeling, When people come and secretly tape you, it’s a pretty low form of harassment in my opinion.”

  • Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT): “My hope is that it will be removed because if our colleagues want a bill, this amendment has no place in it."

  • Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT): “I don't think ultimately Mitch McConnell and John Boehner are going to be held hostage by the Republican presidential primary. Maybe I'm giving them too much faith, but I don't think we're going to be shutting down the government over amendments generated to score points in a Republican presidential primary."

  • Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL): "I believe we're strong supporters of a woman's right to choose, so that is what's going to guide us regardless of what one video says."

  • Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA): “I #StandWithPP for my daughter, my granddaughters & women of MA. We will NOT let the Senate GOP defund @PPFA & deny women basic healthcare.”

  • Sen. Al Franken (D-MN): “The services [Planned Parenthood] provides are essential to helping people decide whether and when to start a family, and while I understand that people have very strong feelings about this issue, I urge everyone to resist the impulse to let politics stand between a woman and her health care.”

  • Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY): “I will strongly oppose amendment to defund @PPact in the US Senate, PP provides crucial care for millions each year.”

  • Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT): “The attempt by Senate Republicans to cut off support for Planned Parenthood is an attack on women’s health.  Stripping funding for Planned Parenthood would punish the 2.7 million Americans, especially low-income women, who rely on its clinics for affordable, quality health care services including cancer prevention, STI and HIV testing and general primary health care services.”

  • Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT): “Planned Parenthood makes health care possible for millions. Jeopardizing that is the worst of bumper sticker politics”

  • Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA): “I know some Republicans are trying to use this latest issue as just one more opportunity to roll back the clock and take away women’s health care options.”

  • Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-12): “Planned Parenthood has as its top priority women’s health.  That’s what they have always been about.  And women’s health does include reproductive health.  But it’s about breast cancer, cervical cancer, testing, and services to women. It’s a very, very important part of the lives of many women in America. ...let’s have an investigation of those people who were trying to ensnare Planned Parenthood in a controversy that doesn’t exist.”

  • Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA-13): “Republicans’ attempts to defund Planned Parenthood are cold, political attacks that would put the health of millions of Americans at risk. We must fight back against misinformation in order to ensure every woman has access to safe, affordable and accessible healthcare.”

  • Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA-13): “They’ve been attacking Planned Parenthood for years… They’ve been calling for investigations for years, and they surface videos and they come on the attack … and I think it’s outrageous.”

  • Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA-19): “Joined @janschakowsky and colleagues today urging investigation of Center for Medical Progress @PPFA #StandWithPP.”

  • Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO-01): “It seems to me that there is an unfair focus on Planned Parenthood continually.”

  • Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03): “For many women, Planned Parenthood is the only way they can afford health care. The vital preventative care and family planning services they provide improve the quality of life for millions of Americans each year. But extremists are trying to discredit one of the nation’s leading providers of women’s health services, impose their ideology on deeply personal health choices and threaten the well-being of women across the country. This is wrong and dishonest. I will continue to stand up for Planned Parenthood and all the good they do for families across America. Defunding Planned Parenthood would be a catastrophe for the 2.7 million women, men and young people served by Planned Parenthood.”

  • Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-09): “This has been a continual multi-year effort to get rid of Planned Parenthood. I think it is worth looking into this kind of effort to ambush and whether, or not they have operated legally. If there is going to be an investigation, I think it ought to be into this organization… We are not going to take it laying down. We are going to be fighting every inch of the way to make sure these health care services — essential health services — and women’s choices are protected.”

  • Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL-08): “I proudly #StandWithPP. @PPact provides vital health care to millions of Americans & Congress should never defund this important mission.”

  • Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD-04): “I stand with Planned Parenthood and against the GOP's latest attempts to undermine women’s access to healthcare. Women and families across the country rely on their services for safe, affordable care -- and I trust them to do it.”

  • Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ-12): “The attacks against @PPFA are seedy, suspect attempts to demean an organization that helps millions of women.”

  • Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY-10): Investigations into PPFA are "another witch hunt" by Republicans.

  • Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY-12): “That anti-choice activists are relying on deceptively edited surreptitious recordings is nothing surprising or new.”

  • Rep. Gene Green (D-TX-29): “I have a Planned Parenthood facility in my district that I support because so much of their work about wellness for women. I am supportive of a woman’s right to choose…. Ultimately they’re making it difficult for [Planned Parenthood] not just to do abortions but also all the good they do for women’s health issues.”

  • Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN-9) and Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI-13): “House Leadership is using a sensationalist and heavily-edited video as an opportunity to attack one of the nation’s leading providers of high-quality health care for women.  Chairman Goodlatte’s suggestion of wrongdoing is wholly unsubstantiated by the video in question. The video does not demonstrate that Planned Parenthood is ‘selling’ fetal tissue.  In fact, many portions of the full video—edited out of the nine-minute version that House Republicans have circulated—directly contradict the allegation that Planned Parenthood has violated federal law.”

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