[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 126 (Wednesday, July 23, 2025)]
[House]
[Page H3565]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      DEFUNDING PLANNED PARENTHOOD

  (Ms. Simon of California was recognized to address the House for 5 
minutes.)
  Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address the House and oppose 
the defunding of Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide.
  The Republicans' cruel budget bill, which all Democrats opposed, 
included a provision to block Federal Planned Parenthood clinics from 
receiving Medicaid funds. This was a devastating choice that 
Republicans have made which will undoubtedly impact families across the 
Nation.
  Planned Parenthood does not just provide birth control. Clinics 
provide basic healthcare exams, cancer screenings, and vaccinations. 
Women across this country today will walk into Planned Parenthood 
clinics across counties and States to receive both diagnostic and care 
for cervical cancer, hypertension, and basic medical care.
  Earlier this year, the largest Planned Parenthood health center in 
the country opened in my district, named after my predecessor and 
champion of reproductive health and access, Congresswoman and now Mayor 
Barbara Lee. The Barbara Lee Oakland Health Center has over 19 exam 
rooms and is transit accessible, but the Republican budget bill will 
put Planned Parenthood centers like ours across the country at risk.
  Mr. Speaker, 200 of the 600 Planned Parenthood clinics across the 
country may close and women will die. Planned Parenthood closures will 
disproportionately impact Black and Brown mothers, who already have a 
maternal mortality rate more than three times their White counterparts.
  These cuts will disproportionately impact poor folks' access to 
reproductive care, since 40 percent of all births in this country are 
covered by the very Medicaid services that are now being gutted. These 
are matters, as I said before, of life and death for us in our district 
and for women across the country.
  I was a young mother living in public housing in San Francisco when I 
had my first daughter at 19, but I was able to get by. I was able to go 
to school and raise a wonderful daughter and put her through college 
and law school because I had access to care and institutions that cared 
about my life.
  If we want people to be healthy in this country and to participate in 
their communities and work, we need to open up choices, and we need to 
provide more opportunities instead of less. That is why I offered an 
amendment to the Republican budget reconciliation bill that would have 
protected the vital services of Planned Parenthood.
  Republicans killed that amendment, but this will not stop our 
collective work, my work, to ensure that people in my district and 
around the country in rural and urban communities have the access that 
they so deserve. Their lives are depending on it.
  Just this week, the district courts put a temporary pause on parts of 
the Republican bill that would defund Planned Parenthood. We will 
continue to fight back. Planned Parenthood is vital. It is vital to 
communities' health, and I will not stand by while it is defunded and 
while our health is devalued.
  I was that young mother. We and our families, our children, deserve 
better.

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