[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 106 (Wednesday, June 24, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3188-S3189]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 2524

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I rise now to offer my legislation with 
Senators Tina Smith and Patty Murray to restore funding for Planned 
Parenthood.
  That funding was gutted under the Republicans' budget bill passed 
nearly a year ago. In that time, 23 Planned Parenthood clinics have 
closed, and 75 percent of those were in rural or underserved areas. 
Breast cancer exams fell by 25 percent.
  Planned Parenthood, unfortunately, has become a scapegoat for many 
Republicans. In reality, these clinics provide lifesaving primary care. 
They provide cancer screenings, annual exams, and testing. The majority 
of these clinics serve areas where there is already a shortage of 
providers. The fact is that they are a lifeline for rural Americans.
  As our country faces a nationwide healthcare provider shortage, this 
body should be doing everything in its power to expand access to care 
and bring down costs. Instead, many Republicans remain laser-focused on 
forcing their agenda on the American people--an agenda that results in 
closed clinic doors, fewer providers, and higher costs.
  The legislation that I now offer, this evening, would restore funding 
for Planned Parenthood clinics. It would restore lifesaving healthcare 
for millions of women, especially those living in rural areas and 
healthcare deserts.
  Mr. President, therefore, as if in legislative session, I ask 
unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be discharged from 
further consideration of S. 2524 and the Senate proceed to its 
immediate consideration; further, that the bill be considered read a 
third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered 
made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Oklahoma.
  Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I 
actually brought a bill tonight to be able to protect the conscience 
rights of individual healthcare workers. It doesn't change the number 
of abortions in America. It doesn't raise insurance costs. It doesn't 
do anything else.
  It just says to a nurse that doesn't want to perform abortions that 
her hospital can't compel her to be able to perform abortions. That 
seems like a pretty reasonable bill. Obviously, my colleague disagrees 
on that. But he wants to instead bring a bill that dramatically could 
increase the number of abortions in America.
  There used to be a time where we used to talk about abortion being 
safe, legal, and rare. That doesn't even seem to be in the conversation 
anymore, and it is just how do we get more.
  Planned Parenthood did almost half a million abortions alone. And I 
know there is a lot of conversation saying they do health screenings 
and such. They are most known for doing abortions--about a half a 
million of them. Planned Parenthood does two abortions a minute across 
the United States--a minute.
  The problem is, this Planned Parenthood entity that has $2 billion in 
income and nearly $2.5 billion in assets is also one that has faced 
very serious allegations. One of the most recent serious allegations 
came from the ``far-right'' newspaper the New York Times.
  The New York Times, which is not exactly known for being a right-
leaning periodical, did an extensive article outlining the problems 
with Planned Parenthood all across the country. Let me just read to 
this body part of what the New York Times printed about Planned 
Parenthood.
  They talked about the botched abortions that they have done in New 
York and the scores of allegations that the New York Times reviewed and 
the times that they said that Planned Parenthood gave ``poor care.''
  Here is another quote from them:

       In a case settled in California last year, a woman accused 
     the organization of improperly implanting a birth control 
     device in her arm and causing nerve damage.
       A Nebraska clinician in 2022 did not realize that a woman 
     was four months pregnant when she inserted an IUD. Several 
     hours later, the patient was rushed to an emergency room and 
     gave birth to a stillborn fetus.
       For months last year at the North Central States affiliate, 
     which oversees the Nebraska clinic, an understaffed nursing 
     department did not upload sexually transmitted infection test 
     results into charts, and patients wrongly believed that their 
     results were negative when they did not hear back.

  Not only is Planned Parenthood doing a half a million abortions, but 
even according to the New York Times, the testing that they are doing 
and the other work that they are doing, they are botching.
  This is how they listed the Omaha Planned Parenthood clinic:

       [S]ewage from a backed-up toilet seeped into the abortion 
     recovery room for two days, according to interviews with 
     staff members and photographs and text messages shared with 
     The Times. Employees shoved exam table pads under the 
     bathroom door to block the leak. Patients vomited from the 
     stench.
       Sewage seeped under the door at a Planned Parenthood 
     facility in Omaha last year.
       [C]linic workers complained that they were learning from 
     inexperienced peers. More than a dozen said they did not 
     receive adequate training for patient intake, blood draws and 
     other tasks.

  They go on and on and on. It is a very long article that the New York 
Times laid in there and talked about how that wealthy donors have 
stepped in to be able to help fill the gaps but that Planned Parenthood 
is not using that actually for healthcare; Planned Parenthood is using 
the money donated to them for their political operation--not patient 
care.
  So when my colleague says that Republicans don't want to provide 
funding to Planned Parenthood, it is true because of not only their 
medical records and for what is happening all around the country in 
these locations, but this has become a political operation more than a 
healthcare operation.
  We have a lot of great--I mean great--federally qualified health 
centers all around the country that are doing a terrific job taking 
care of families and women in many places, but they are not 
specializing in abortion. Planned Parenthood is focused on abortion. 
And even according to the New York Times, they are not even doing a 
good job at that.
  So, yes, I do oppose this, and I do object to providing more money 
for an entity that is not taking care of even what it is already doing 
and is focused on taking the life of children, not protecting the lives 
of families.
  I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.

[[Page S3189]]

  The Senator from Utah.