Extreme anti-choice legislation recently introduced in Congress would strip Planned Parenthood of funds to provide preventive care — birth control and family planning — to millions of women. Anti-choice attacks on women’s health and Planned Parenthood itself are escalating, and our opponents want nothing less than to eliminate Planned Parenthood and with it a source of care for millions of women.
According to Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the bill recently introduced by Representative Smith (R-NJ) attempts to ban private insurance coverage for abortion for millions of women — even for women who have such coverage today. It goes so far as to raise taxes for individuals and small businesses that purchase health insurance coverage for abortion with their own money. And it gets worse. Tell Congress to reject the anti-choice Smith bill.
Heartlessly, the Smith bill would even prevent many rape survivors from getting the care they need. If this bill passes, only rape survivors who become pregnant through “forcible rape” will be allowed federal financing of abortion. This means women who are drugged, unconscious, coerced — or whatever else state lawmakers decide does not constitute “forcible rape” — could be excluded from the abortion coverage they need. Read that again, because it is truly shocking. The sponsors of this bill want to ban federal funding for abortion in cases of rape they deem not “forcible.”
Under-Cover Video by Live Action Designed to Bolster Pence Legislation to De-Fund Planned Parenthood
On February 2, 1011, a video tape was released Live Action, an organization that has vowed to "take down" Planned Parenthood. The video was shot during a visit by Live Action activists with secret cameras at Planned Parenthood health centers in New Jersey on January 13.
Planned Parenthood insists on the highest standards of care, and safeguards the trusted relationship we have with patients, families and communities. What appears on edited tapes made public today is not consistent with Planned Parenthood’s practices, and is under review.
The group that has undertaken this secret taping is on the record as saying its goal is to "take down" Planned Parenthood over the next 10 years by creating "controversy" in the organization and making Planned Parenthood "not feel safe." In previous sting operations, they have clearly edited video before placing it on line.
These secret video tapings of our health centers are being coordinated with anti-choice groups who are pressing for the passage of the federal Pence bill to defund Planned Parenthood. This bill would deny federal funds for family planning and preventive care to Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of reproductive health care to women in the United States.
Planned Parenthood will continue to work with federal authorities as they investigate these visits to our health centers.
