Duckworth Urges Republicans To Stop Trying To Defund Planned Parenthood
WASHINGTON, DC -Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined 31 of her fellow U.S. Senators in urging Speaker of the House Paul Ryan to reconsider his harmful, hyper-partisan new effort to take away women's access to critical health services like mammograms and physical screenings provided by Planned Parenthood. Duckworth did not grow up in a wealthy family. She worked her way through college as a waitress and relied on Planned Parenthood for personal health care services at the time.
The Senators wrote, "Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood would make America sick again by denying women access to vital affordable health care services ... Continu[ing] down this harmful, partisan path this year will put the wellbeing and lives of women nationwide at risk-and we urge you to put those patients' needs ahead of scoring political points ... One in five women uses Planned Parenthood as her primary means of health care. In fact Planned Parenthood serves 2.5 million patients in all 50 states and the District of Columbia ... In one-fifth of the counties in which they are located, Planned Parenthood sites are the sole safety-net family planning center. Doubling down on repeal and defunding Planned Parenthood ... would harm communities who can least afford it, ultimately increasing health care costs ... [and] cost taxpayers over $130 million ... We urge you to stop the attack on Planned Parenthood immediately."
The letter can be viewedonline here.It is copied and pasted below:
The Honorable Paul Ryan
Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives
The Capitol Building
Washington, D.C. 20004
Dear Speaker Ryan:
As we begin this new Congress, we are outraged at your promise to defund Planned Parenthood as Republicans rush to rip apart the health care system, but we are not surprised. We have seen this before. In fact, since 2007 when Vice President-elect Pence first waged the battle to defund our nation's largest provider of women's health care, we have seen 16 attempts and reached the brink of shutdown, led by extreme, right-wing Republicans to undermine and end women's access to care at clinics across the country. Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood would make America sick again by denying women access to vital, affordable health care services.
Your decision to continue down this harmful, partisan path this year will put the wellbeing and lives of women nationwide at risk-and we urge you to put those patients' needs ahead of scoring political points.
An overwhelming share of Americans-69 percent of voters including 56 percent of Republicans-support Planned Parenthood and oppose shutting down the federal government over its funding. One in five women uses Planned Parenthood as her primary means of health care. In fact, Planned Parenthood serves 2.5 million patients in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, sixty percent of whom are women and families who are Medicaid beneficiaries. In one-fifth of the counties in which they are located, Planned Parenthood sites are the sole safety-net family planning center. Doubling down on repeal and defunding Planned Parenthood ensures that women across the country must bear twice the burden.
Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood would harm communities who can least afford it, ultimately increasing health care costs. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) when scoring previous Republican proposals to defund Planned Parenthood made clear that the people most likely to experience reduced access to care would likely reside in areas without access to other health care clinics or medical practitioners who serve low-income populations. CBO even estimated that the House's extreme right-wing bill to fully defund Planned Parenthood would cost taxpayers over $130 million because 45 percent of all births are paid for by Medicaid.
As you know, President-elect Trump praised Planned Parenthood on the campaign trail and affirmed that it has done "very good work for millions of women." We urge you to reconsider putting partisan political fights ahead of women's access to health care. The women and men who rely on Planned Parenthood are Republicans and Democrats alike-and they did not vote for an extreme political agenda that undermines their access to quality, affordable health care at providers they trust. We urge you to stop the attack on Planned Parenthood immediately.
Sincerely,
United States Senator Patty Murray
United States Senator Ron Wyden
United States Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
United States Senator Tammy Baldwin
United States Senator Michael F. Bennet
United States Senator Richard Blumenthal
United States Senator Cory Booker
United States Senator Sherrod Brown
United States Senator Maria Cantwell
United States Senator Thomas R. Carper
United States Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr.
United States Senator Christopher A. Coons
United States Senator Tammy Duckworth
United States Senator Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator Al Franken
United States Senator Margaret W. Hassan
United States Senator Martin Heinrich
United States Senator Mazie K. Hirono
United States Senator Tim Kaine
United States Senator Claire McCaskill
United States Senator Robert Menendez
United States Senator Christopher Murphy
United States Senator Bernard Sanders
United States Senator Jeanne Shaheen
United States Senator Tom Udall
United States Senator Elizabeth Warren
United States Senator Sheldon Whitehouse
United States Senator Chris Van Hollen
United States Senator Catherine Cortez
United States Senator Bill Nelson
United States Senator Gary Peters
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