[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 27 (Friday, February 18, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E289-E290]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             FULL-YEAR CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2011

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. RUSH D. HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 17, 2011

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 1) making 
     appropriations for the Department of Defense and the other 
     departments and agencies of the Government for the fiscal 
     year ending September 30, 2011, and for other purposes:

  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Chair, I rise today to oppose the amendment offered by 
my colleague from Indiana, Mr. Pence to H.R. 1, the Full-Year 
Continuing Appropriations Act.
  Mr. Pence's amendment would deny any federal funding to Planned 
Parenthood health facilities throughout the country. As a supporter of 
Planned Parenthood and the services that it offers to my constituents 
in my central New Jersey district, I firmly oppose this purely 
political amendment.
  This should not be a pro-life or pro-choice debate about one of the 
many services that Planned Parenthood provides. In fact, under current 
law no federal funds can be used for abortion services. Less than three 
percent of the services provided by Planned Parenthood are abortion 
related. The Pence amendment is in fact a fundamental attack on our 
nation's oldest and most respected reproductive healthcare provider, 
the over 5 million men and women that visit Planned Parenthood 
annually, and the one in five American women who will visit a Planned 
Parenthood center in their lifetime.
  Disqualifying Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funds would 
disproportionately affect health-care services that prevent unintended 
pregnancy and reduce the need for abortion. The vast majority of 
Planned Parenthood's medical services are related to contraception, 
testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections; cancer 
screening, and other services like pregnancy tests and infertility 
treatment. Despite any claims to the contrary, the Pence amendment is 
clearly a direct attack on prevention services, and would increase the 
number of unwanted pregnancies.
  More than 90 percent of the care that Planned Parenthood health 
centers provide every day is primary and preventive, including wellness 
exams, cancer screenings, immunizations, contraception and STD testing 
and treatment. For many women, the only doctor or nurse they see is one 
they visit at a women's health center. In fact, more than 6 in 10 
patients who receive care at a women's health center like Planned 
Parenthood consider it their primary source of health care.
  The 28 Planned Parenthood health centers in New Jersey serve over 
90,000 patients per year for a wide range of primary and reproductive 
health services. In 2009 alone, these centers performed almost 45 
thousand cervical screening tests that detected over 2 thousand 
abnormal results and 27 thousand breast exams that detected over 800 
abnormal results. Taking away funds from Planned Parenthood would deny 
women life saving medical testing, increase unwanted pregnancies, and 
deny primary care services to millions of women throughout the country.

[[Page E290]]

  I urge my colleagues to oppose the Pence amendment.

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