[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 55 (Thursday, April 14, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2460-S2461]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         CONTINUING RESOLUTION

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, a little later today we are going to 
receive from the House of Representatives a spending bill which, if 
passed, will fund the government for the remainer of this fiscal year, 
which ends on September 30. Included in that vote today are two other 
votes, separate votes, which were insisted on by the House Republicans. 
One of the votes will defund Planned Parenthood across the United 
States.
  Under title X, a law which was proposed by President Nixon and passed 
by Congress--and supported for over 40 years since--we have provided 
money across America to clinics that take care of women, children, and 
families who otherwise would have no place to turn.
  One of the recipients of those funds is Planned Parenthood. They do 
not receive all the funds or even a majority of the funds. But they do 
receive support through title X. In my State of Illinois, Planned 
Parenthood has clinics in many down-State communities, as well as in 
the Chicagoland area. In my hometown of Springfield, there is a Planned 
Parenthood clinic. It provides valuable services for many women in my 
community and State--services which otherwise they could not find or 
afford: basic examinations by doctors who can screen for forms of 
cancer, for infectious disease. These are things which many women rely 
on, and they are valuable services. Yet the House Republicans are 
determined to take the funding away from Planned Parenthood.
  The amendment on the floor addresses that issue. I will vote against 
that amendment, and I will vote against it because I understand closing 
down Planned Parenthood as one of the recipients of title X funds will 
mean that literally 69,000 women in the State of Illinois who rely on 
Planned Parenthood clinics will then have to struggle to find another 
source of medical care, and it is not always easy to do it. Many of 
these women--most of them--are uninsured and very few of them have the 
economic wherewithal to pay for these services.

[[Page S2461]]

  For over 90 years, Planned Parenthood has provided comprehensive 
preventive and primary health care to people, primarily the low-income, 
uninsured, and Medicaid recipients. Last year, 3 million people across 
America--that is 1 percent of our population--relied on Planned 
Parenthood's 800 health centers for cancer screenings, family planning, 
and annual exams.
  Now the House Republicans are arguing we have to stop funding Planned 
Parenthood because that is a way to prevent abortion. Well, let me say, 
we have to understand that the law for over 30 years in America has 
made it clear--an amendment offered by a Congressman from Illinois, 
Henry Hyde, made it clear--that no Federal funds can be used for 
abortion services except in the most extreme and restricted cases: 
rape, incest, or where the mother's life is at stake. That has been the 
law. It has not been changed. It was not changed under this President 
or previous Presidents. That has been, since the time of Henry Hyde, 
the guiding policy of this land and there is no one to suggest that it 
be changed. Every dollar received by Planned Parenthood from the 
Federal Government is carefully restricted so that it cannot be used 
for abortion services.

  Planned Parenthood does provide abortion counseling but only for 3 
percent of their activities. Ninety-seven percent of their activities 
have nothing to do with it, and not a penny of the abortion counseling 
services can come from Federal funds except in the most restricted 
circumstances under the Hyde amendment. Ninety percent of Planned 
Parenthood's activities are basically preventive.
  Let me tell my colleagues, if we don't allow women of limited means 
and with no insurance access to family planning counseling and 
services, it means there will be more unintended pregnancies and, 
sadly, more abortions. It is estimated that if we did not have title X 
funding in Illinois, if we didn't provide this kind of assistance for 
women in lower income categories, we would have 24 percent more 
abortions because of unintended pregnancies. So if what the House 
Republicans are seeking to do is to reduce the number of abortions, 
they are doing it exactly the wrong way. Providing information and 
counseling to women so they can plan their families and not end up with 
unintended pregnancies is a good way to reduce the number of abortions. 
That, to me, is as clear as possible. Yet they seem to be tied in knots 
when it comes to this and don't understand this basic causal 
connection.
  Last year, with the help of Federal dollars, Planned Parenthood 
health centers performed 1 million cervical exams, 800,000 breast 
exams, and 4 million tests and treatments for sexually transmitted 
infections such as HIV. If Planned Parenthood is prohibited from 
receiving Federal funding, which is the issue that will be on the 
floor, most of their health centers would be forced to close. Then what 
happens to the millions of women and others across America who rely on 
their services?
  Let me tell my colleagues one story that I think demonstrates why 
this is a critical vote. It comes from a Planned Parenthood clinic in 
Aurora, IL. A woman in her early forties was uninsured because she lost 
her job. Her daughter suggested she go to Planned Parenthood for her 
annual checkup. During the woman's routine breast exam, a 4 centimeter 
by 4 centimeter lump was found in her breast. That is a sizable lump. 
The providers at Planned Parenthood helped the woman get a mammogram 
and connected her with an oncologist. Thankfully, the cancerous lump 
was removed, and the woman recovered completely. That woman went back 
to the Aurora Planned Parenthood to thank them and to let them know 
that without that care, she could have died. So when it gets down to 
this vote, it literally is a matter of life and death.
  I hope those who feel strongly about one issue or the other will also 
feel strongly about the right of every person to have access to quality 
care whether they are rich or poor. Planned Parenthood provides that 
care in my State and across the Nation.
  The other amendment is also going to relate to health care. I find it 
hard to believe that at this moment in time the Republicans are 
suggesting we should repeal health care reform. This morning, we had a 
town meeting, and in our town meeting was a group of young people who 
came from Illinois and who are recovering or in treatment for cancer. 
These are brave young children and young adults who are battling this 
disease. I asked them, when someone suggested repealing health care 
reform, what they would think about a provision in health care reform, 
which we insisted on, which said that no health insurance company can 
discriminate against an American under the age of 18 for a preexisting 
condition. Well, they all cheered because they know, having had cancer 
in their lives, if they go out on the open market, the cost of their 
health care and health insurance, if they can buy it, would be 
prohibitively expensive.
  The health care reform we passed here prohibits health insurance 
companies from discriminating against those children under the age of 
18 for preexisting conditions. Those who want to repeal it basically 
want to take away that protection.
  We also know many families raising children of college age get 
worried because the kids may not have health insurance while they are 
looking for jobs. We extend the family coverage of people up to the age 
of 27 so they can stay under their family policy when they get out of 
college. That gives peace of mind to a lot of families that as their 
young son or daughter is out taking a part-time job or internship or a 
trip around the world, they are going to have health insurance until 
the age of 27. Repealing the law, which is what we will vote on here on 
the floor, will remove that protection.
  Also, when it comes to Medicare, the prescription drug program has a 
gap in it called the doughnut hole. A lot of seniors with the need for 
expensive prescription drugs find, after a few months, no coverage from 
the government. They have to turn around and reach in their savings 
account and pay out thousands of dollars before that protection 
coverage resumes. That doughnut hole--the gap--is being closed by this 
bill. Those who want to repeal health care reform will repeal our 
efforts to make sure people have this access to the kind of health care 
and prescription drugs they need to survive and be strong and 
independent.
  I think it is a very clear vote. I have said before that I am open to 
revisiting health care reform, reforming health care reform, making 
sure it works the way we intended it to work. As I have said before, 
the only perfect law I am aware of was written on stone tablets and 
carried down a mountain by Senator Moses. Every other effort since has 
been a human effort full of frailties and flaws, and we should always 
try to make it better. But the notion of wiping the slate clean and 
repealing health care reform would be a step backward for America. It 
would acknowledge that the 60 million uninsured Americans will have 
their ranks swell from others who can't afford to pay for health 
insurance and certainly can't buy good-quality health insurance today.
  I encourage my colleagues to vote no on this amendment to repeal 
health care reform. We don't need to leave so many American families 
vulnerable, but we do need to have protections against health insurance 
companies which too often discriminate against those who need 
protection the most.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Kansas.

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