[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 134 (Thursday, September 17, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H6083-H6084]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           PLANNED PARENTHOOD

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Veasey) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address a very important 
issue that continues to trouble the American people, and that is the 
Republican obsession of denying a woman and families' access to certain 
healthcare services like birth control.
  Republicans' outdated views on family planning do nothing to empower 
women and nothing for families in their success in the 21st century. 
The latest round in the Republicans' battle against women's access to 
health care is, yet again, an attempt to eliminate Federal funding for 
Planned Parenthood.
  This debate has been riddled with lies and deliberate misinformation 
designed to shock the American people, while needlessly demonizing one 
of the Nation's leading women's healthcare providers.
  Mr. Speaker, I think it is time that we talk about a few things and 
clear up some issues and talk about the facts in this. Since its 
inception, Planned Parenthood has empowered millions of women 
nationwide by providing affordable access to contraception. Cutting off 
funding would cripple Planned Parenthood's ability to provide this 
crucial service for our Nation's women.
  The two primary sources of Federal funding for Planned Parenthood 
come from two programs, Medicaid and Title X Family Planning. These 
programs were created as a safety net to provide low-income individuals 
with access to critical medical services that they would otherwise be 
forced to forego due to their high cost, such as birth control.
  Together, these programs account for over 40 percent of Planned 
Parenthood's operating budget. Stripping these dollars would severely 
decrease Planned Parenthood's ability to provide care for 2.7 million 
people that they serve every year.
  Let me tell you what this means. This means millions of the Nation's 
poor women would not only be at risk of losing affordable contraceptive 
services and counseling, but also their access to breast and cervical 
cancer screenings, as well as testing and treatment for STDs.
  It is important to understand that, for those who are uninsured, this 
is the only way to get this lifesaving care. This would mean 400,000 
fewer pap smears for women, 500,000 fewer breast exams, and 4.5 million 
fewer STD tests and treatments nationwide.
  Let me be clear. It is not just Democrats' districts that will be 
affected. If you go outside of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, these 
smaller cities and suburban areas and rural areas, those are Republican 
districts; they

[[Page H6084]]

have low-income women, and they will be cut off from this funding and 
this treatment.
  All this is at risk because of Republicans' objections to Planned 
Parenthood providing safe and legal access to abortions. This is less 
than 3 percent of what this organization does. In accordance with 
Federal law, no Federal funds go to cover abortion services.
  Another faulty argument made by Republicans is that the Nation's 
community healthcare centers could absorb the work that Planned 
Parenthood currently does.
  I love community health centers, and I appreciate the work that they 
do because they really do serve the underserved, but the idea that 
these facilities would be able to provide adequate services to nearly 3 
million additional people who would suddenly be without care is simply 
unimaginable.
  Community health centers rely on other sources for affordable care to 
alleviate the strains of residents' needs, sources like Planned 
Parenthood. This is not imagined. I have seen it in the State of Texas.
  I have visited community healthcare centers in the district that I 
serve, and they are very overwhelmed as a result of the void for 
healthcare services purposely created by the Republican State 
legislature. One of the things you always hear Republicans hollering 
about is how much they want to save taxpayers money.
  Let me tell you something. What happened in my State of Texas in 
2012, Governor Rick Perry and the Republican State legislature banned 
Planned Parenthood from participating in the Medicaid Women's Health 
Program, a joint initiative that saved Texas millions of dollars in 
Medicaid prenatal and delivery costs through the prevention of 
unplanned pregnancies.
  Today, 30,000 fewer women are receiving that care, Medicaid claims 
are down by 26 percent, and Texas taxpayers are now paying the full 
price to support the State's community health centers. Republicans 
wasted lots of money.
  Where does that leave us today? I will tell you a lot of these 
antiabortion groups and their political allies have created this 
partisan debate by releasing a series of deceitfully edited 
``undercover'' videos casting Planned Parenthood in a negative light.
  Let me tell you that these videos are a sham; they are lies, and they 
do absolutely nothing to help increase access to the critical services 
that Planned Parenthood provides for women.
  Documents and testimony submitted to the Energy and Commerce 
Committee during a wasteful and unnecessary investigation show that 
absolutely no evidence exists to substantiate claims that Planned 
Parenthood violated the law in any way. In fact, their fetal tissue 
donation program is not only compliant with Federal law, but goes well 
beyond the law's requirements.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my Republican colleagues to cease their fruitless 
fight against birth control--because we know that this is really what 
this is all about--and Planned Parenthood and women's health and get to 
the job of governing.
  We all want women to have access to the health care they need to stay 
healthy for their family because, let me tell you, in my family and in 
families around the country, that if mom is not healthy, the rest of 
the family is not healthy.
  That is why I choose to put people before politics and stand with 
women, families, and all the people of Texas and America in my support 
of Planned Parenthood.

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