Planned Parenthood Action Fund Comment On President Trump Campaigning for Karen Handel  

Atlanta, Georgia  - Today, on his 100th day in office, President Donald Trump campaigns for extreme anti-abortion politician and ousted Komen executive Karen Handel. Trump's first 100 days in office have been unprecedented – both in the level of attacks from his administration against women's health and rights, and in the grassroots resistance that has emerged against his agenda across the country from Utah, to Arizona, to Tennessee, and beyond.

Planned Parenthood Action Fund Statement on the appearance.

Quote from Dawn Laguens, Executive Vice President, Planned Parenthood Action Fund:

Trump’s support for a politician like Karen Handel shows how little regard he has for women’s health or rights. Women have been in the crosshairs since day one of the Trump administration -- he has expanded the Global Gag Rule, attacked health care at Planned Parenthood, tried to eliminate maternity care for women and new moms, and now is throwing his weight behind a politician best known for putting her own political agenda above the health of breast cancer patients. After a massive outcry, Karen Handel resigned from the Komen Foundation for her ideological actions that put women’s health at risk.  Georgians want reproductive health care champions, like Jon Ossoff, in Washington, not failed politicians like Karen Handel who will take women and families backwards.

Jon Ossoff is a fierce champion for women and families. Women in Georgia mobilized to drive Jon Ossoff to his strong first place finish. Planned Parenthood Action Fund endorsed Jon Ossoff for Georgia's 6th Congressional District and invested in a six-figure campaign in the April primary. Digital ads complemented a ground effort which has reached over 15,000 people in door-to-door canvasses and over 70,000 people in a mail campaign.  

Extreme politicians in DC are mounting the biggest attack on women’s health in a generation, and blocking access to care at Planned Parenthood health centers is their top priority.  Week after week, politicians in DC are pushing to eliminate women’s programs and “defund” Planned Parenthood.  What is at stake is the basic right of women to access health care without interference from politicians.

Anti-women’s health care extremist Karen Handel will run against Ossoff in the run off. Handel does not understand what’s at stake for Georgia women and families, campaigning on an extreme agenda of blocking access to care at Planned Parenthood health centers and believing  government should intervene in women’s health care decisions. As the senior vice president  of public policy of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Handel drove the decision to cut off funding to Planned Parenthood. Called “one of the great PR faux pas of the decade,” it cost Komen $77 million, or 22% of the foundation’s income, collected via contributions, sponsorships and entry fees for its sponsored races in 2012, compared to the year before according to the Los Angeles Times.