Thank you Representative Lowey
For Immediate Release: May 8, 2019
I am glad to have a champion like Representative Nita Lowey defending our rights and access to reproductive health care in Congress. Representative Lowey has been a stalwart advocate for sexual and reproductive health care which is why she has been so vocal about opposing the disastrous Trump-Pence administration’s Title X gag rule.
As the President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic, I strongly oppose the Trump-Pence administration’s gag rule. This rule would prevent essential health care providers like Planned Parenthood from participating in the Title X, the nation’s only program for affordable reproductive health care. As if that’s not bad enough, it would dangerously interfere in the provider-patient relationship by gagging providers and preventing them from giving patients information about how or where to access to abortion.
Title X ensures that every person has access to basic, preventive reproductive health care, such as birth control and cancer screenings, regardless of their income. As a provider in Westchester and Rockland county, I know from experience the critical role Planned Parenthood plays in the Title X program. This gag rule is a direct attack on the 21,000 Title X eligible patients PPHP provided services to last year.
By banning doctors from referring patients in the Title X program for an abortion, the Trump-Pence administration’s gag rule violates every doctor’s commitment to ethical patient care by forcing providers to withhold critical information from patients. I know all patients, regardless of income, deserve access to the best medical care and information possible.
Thank you Representative Lowey for tirelessly defending the right to access reproductive health care, no matter where you live or how much money you make.
Vincent Russell
President & CEO