Tag Archives: planned-parenthood

Obama Just Slapped Down a GOP Attack on Obamacare and Planned Parenthood

by TobyFreeland Posted on January 8, 2016

Mother Jones

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President Barack Obama on Friday vetoed a GOP-backed bill that would have fulfilled two conservative dreams all at once: to gut the Affordable Care Act, Obama’s signature health care law, and to pull funding from Planned Parenthood for a year.

The House passed the bill on Wednesday, after it squeaked through the Senate in December thanks to a special budget process requiring only 51 votes for passage instead of the usual 60. It was the 62nd time that Congress had voted on repealing or gutting the law colloquially known as Obamacare since it became law in 2010. It is also the eighth time in a year that Congress has voted on defunding Planned Parenthood.

Obama said in a statement: “The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the legislation would increase the number of uninsured Americans by 22 million after 2017…Reliable health care coverage would no longer be a right for everyone: it would return to being a privilege for a few.”

Referring to Planned Parenthood, the president noted the bill “would limit access to health care for men, women, and families across the nation, and would disproportionately impact low-income individuals.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) immediately responded with a video in which he pledges to hold a vote to override the veto, saying that “it is just a matter of time” before Obamacare is done away with. Republicans do not have enough votes in the House to overturn a presidential veto, which requires a two-thirds majority.

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Obama Just Slapped Down a GOP Attack on Obamacare and Planned Parenthood

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This Is What the Alleged Planned Parenthood Shooter Shouted in Court

by FlorenePhc Posted on December 9, 2015

Mother Jones

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Before he was formally charged with first-degree murder in court, Robert Lewis Dear—who is accused of killing three people and injuring nine others in a shooting at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic last month—began yelling.

“I am a warrior for the babies,” he shouted, according to the New York Times.

He also yelled, “I am guilty. There will be no trial,” and “Seal the truth, kill the babies. That’s what Planned Parenthood does,” according to Rick Sallinger, a reporter with CBS4 news in Denver who was in the courtroom.

These outbursts could be an indication of Dear’s motives for the clinic attack.

Law enforcement officials in Colorado Springs have been hesitant to talk publicly about what may have spurred Dear to act. Several media interviews with people who know Dear have revealed that Dear passionately opposed abortion. After he was arrested, he reportedly told the police, “no more baby parts.” Also, one of Dear’s ex-wives said he had vandalized a South Carolina abortion clinic years ago by putting glue in the locks on its doors.

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This Is What the Alleged Planned Parenthood Shooter Shouted in Court

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Congress Just Created a Benghazi Committee for Planned Parenthood

by RenaHort470 Posted on October 23, 2015

Mother Jones

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The three congressional investigations into Planned Parenthood this year have all turned up nothing, but that hasn’t stopped House Speaker John Boehner from yet again attempting to take down the nation’s largest women’s health care organization. On Friday, he announced that Tennessee Rep. Marsha Blackburn will chair a select panel charged with investigating the group—and that she’ll be joined by seven other anti-abortion Republicans, all of whom cosponsored a recent bill to defund Planned Parenthood.

“Recent videos exposing the abortion-for-baby parts business have shocked the nation, and demanded action. At my request, three House committees have been investigating the abortion business, but we still don’t have the full truth,” Boehner said in a statement on the new panel, which will report to the House Energy and Commerce Committee and which he hopes will have more success than the others in defunding the organization. “Chairman Blackburn and our members will have the resources and the subpoena power to get to the bottom of these horrific practices, and build on our work to protect the sanctity of all human life.”

In the wake of the series of deceptively edited videos that showed Planned Parenthood staff discussing fetal tissue donation, Planned Parenthood’s president, Cecile Richards, spent hours in September answering Congress’ questions about her organization’s use of taxpayer dollars. Described as a “partisan attack based on ideology” by committee member Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the hearing turned up no evidence of wrongdoing. State investigations into local Planned Parenthood providers have similarly turned up no wrongdoing.

Blackburn, one of four women selected to serve on the panel, has a record of opposing abortion. Earlier this year she teamed up with Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) to push forward a measure that would ban nearly all abortions after 20 weeks. She’s also an advocate for the argument that women wouldn’t be hurt by Planned Parenthood’s closure because there are community health centers that provide the same services, despite evidence to the contrary. Earlier this month, Blackburn said, “There are still many questions yet to be answered surrounding Planned Parenthood’s business practices and relationships with the procurement organizations. This is exactly why the House is investigating abortion practices and how we can better protect life.”

Democrats, meanwhile, have drawn comparisons between the Planned Parenthood investigations and the House committee on Benghazi, which this week heard testimony from Hillary Clinton.

“After my experience yesterday I am just amazed they are talking about setting up another special investigative committee, this time to investigate Planned Parenthood,” Clinton said early Friday morning. “And I think we all know by now that is just code for a partisan witch hunt. Haven’t we seen enough of that?”

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Congress Just Created a Benghazi Committee for Planned Parenthood

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Texas Subpoenas Records of Planned Parenthood Patients Who Donated Fetal Tissue

by MitchelPontiff1 Posted on October 23, 2015

Mother Jones

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On the heels of Texas stripping Planned Parenthood of Medicaid funding on Monday, the state’s Health and Human Services Commission on Wednesday issued a subpoena for the Medicaid records of Planned Parenthood patients who have donated fetal tissue in the past five years.

Investigators with the department are seeking to obtain information from clinics in San Antonio, Houston, and Dallas including patient records as well as billing and personnel information related to the donations, according to Planned Parenthood.

Ken Lambrecht, the CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, said the move was “unprecedented.”

“We will make every effort to comply with the state’s request but see this is an excuse to take healthcare away from thousands of women and men who rely on Planned Parenthood for preventive care,” Lambrecht said in a statement. “We comply with all state laws and regulations. Protecting the confidentiality of our patients and employees is paramount. We will do everything we can to ensure their confidentiality as we cooperate with the state’s request.”

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Texas Subpoenas Records of Planned Parenthood Patients Who Donated Fetal Tissue

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A Federal Judge Just Gave an Epic Defense of Planned Parenthood That Everyone Should Read

by DannielleLay Posted on October 19, 2015

Mother Jones

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In a blistering opinion, a federal judge blocked Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s attempt to defund Planned Parenthood in the state, saying the move would cause “irreparable harm” to the 5,200 women who depend on the organization for health care.

In July, Jindal ordered an investigation into the group following the release of a series of highly edited videos that show Planned Parenthood officials discussing fetal tissue donation. He also ordered the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) to cancel Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast’s (PPGC) Medicaid contract, which it did in August, effectively defunding the organization in the state. Neither of the two Planned Parenthood clinics in Louisiana offer abortions. Planned Parenthood took the DHH to court later that month.

US District Judge John W. deGravelles issued a restraining order against the DHH’s move late Sunday. The order will remain in place for at least two weeks while the judge makes a final ruling on the case. However, in his opinion, deGravelles was outspoken in his support of Planned Parenthood. He wrote that the DHH attack on the organization was baseless:

The uncontradicted evidence in the record at this time is that PPGC does not perform abortions in Louisiana, is not involved in the sale of fetal tissue and none of the conduct in question occurred at the PPGC’s two Louisiana facilities. Based on the record before it, it appears likely that Plaintiff will be able to prove that the attempted termination against it are motived and driven, at least in large part, by reasons unrelated to its competence and unique to it.

He also disputed a common Republican argument (which former Mother Jones reporter Molly Redden debunked last month) that closing Planned Parenthood won’t burden its patients, who would have access to other reproductive health providers in the area. According to deGravelles, defunding Planned Parenthood would leave thousands of women without options:

The Court turns to the uncontested and unquestioned facts—PPGC serves 5,200 poor and needy women, and PPGC has repeatedly been deemed a ‘competent’ provider by DHH—and honors the public interest in affording these women access to their provider of choice…For decades, PPGC has served numerous at-risk individuals and helped DHH combat a host of diseases, and, in the process, become the regular provider of over 5,000 women.

Several other states, including Arkansas, Utah, and Alabama, have cut funding for Planned Parenthood by canceling Medicaid contracts. In August, the Obama administration notified Alabama and Louisiana that cutting Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid funding may violate federal law.

For its part, Jindal’s office said on Monday that the governor would “continue to fight to ensure Planned Parenthood no longer receives taxpayer funding.”

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A Federal Judge Just Gave an Epic Defense of Planned Parenthood That Everyone Should Read

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Republicans Hate Planned Parenthood but Want to Put One of Its Backers on the $10 Bill

by RufusDuterrau Posted on September 17, 2015

Mother Jones

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At the end of last night’s GOP debate, moderator Jake Tapper asked the candidates which woman they would choose to put on the $10 bill. Several of the 11 candidates on stage named their daughters or wives. Mike Huckabee awkwardly poked fun at his wife’s spending habits in nominating her. “That way,” he said, “she could spend her own money with her face!”

But Sen. Marco Rubio, Sen. Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump went for gravitas. All three picked Rosa Parks, the civil rights leader whose refusal to give up her seat sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, to be the first woman pictured on US paper currency. “An everyday American that changed the course of history,” said Rubio. “She was a principled pioneer that helped change this country,” noted Cruz, clarifying that he would put her on the $20 bill, in order to keep Founding Father Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill.

The candidates are right that Parks was a “principled pioneer,” but her advocacy went beyond racial justice. Later in life, Parks was an avid supporter of Planned Parenthood, and she even served on its board.

That’s an inconvenient fact for the GOP candidates who have been eager to demonize Planned Parenthood. Throughout the debate, all of them repeatedly touted their pro-life records and vowed to defund Planned Parenthood. Cruz is currently leading the charge against Planned Parenthood in the Senate, threatening to shut down the government over a spending bill that includes federal funding for the women’s health organization.

Cruz elaborated on that ongoing funding battle at the debate, honing in on the doctored sting videos that purport to show Planned Parenthood officials selling fetal organs for profit—a criminal allegation that state after state has found to be false. “Absolutely we shouldn’t be sending $500 million of taxpayer money to funding an ongoing criminal enterprise,” Cruz said of Planned Parenthood. “And I’ll tell you, the fact that Republican leadership in both houses has begun this discussion by preemptively surrendering to Barack Obama and saying, ‘We’ll give in because Obama threatens a veto.’ We need to stop surrendering and start standing for our principles.”

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Republicans Hate Planned Parenthood but Want to Put One of Its Backers on the $10 Bill

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Planned Parenthood: Exonerated, But Still a Target

by TamikaBardon Posted on September 14, 2015

Mother Jones

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Steve Benen reports on the swan song of conservative plans to prove that Planned Parenthood broke the law:

There was just one nagging detail: Planned Parenthood never actually did anything illegal. It didn’t sell fetal tissue for a profit; it didn’t misuse public resources, and it didn’t violate any laws. The Republican plan was based on a foundation of quicksand.

But The Hill reported over the weekend that GOP House members are now shifting to their back-up plan: they no longer care whether Planned Parenthood did anything wrong.

In reality, there’s no shift here. Republicans have wanted to defund Planned Parenthood for a long time. The sting videos were just an excuse to mount another effort. Democrats do the same thing on gun control whenever there’s a high-profile shooting.

And there’s nothing really wrong with this. Politics is all about persuading the public to come around to your way of thinking, and one way to do that is to take advantage of events in the real world. Even if you fail, maybe you’ve moved public opinion a few points and you’ll do better next time. So far, both Planned Parenthood and gun rights have survived, and there’s not really much evidence that public opinion has shifted a lot on either one. But that doesn’t mean anyone is likely to stop trying.

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Planned Parenthood: Exonerated, But Still a Target

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Jeb Bush: "I’m Not Sure We Need Half a Billion Dollars" for Women’s Health

by gammak Posted on August 4, 2015

Mother Jones

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When he was governor of Florida, Jeb Bush vetoed state funding for Planned Parenthood. He thinks the next president should do the same—at the federal level.

That’s what Bush said Tuesday at the Send North America conference, one of America’s largest evangelical gatherings. He wasn’t done talking about women’s health care, though:

You could take dollar for dollar—although I’m not sure we need half a billion dollars—for women’s health issues, but if you took dollar for dollar, there are many extraordinarily fine community health organizations that exist to provide quality care for women on a wide variety of health issues. But abortion should not be funded by the government.

Reminder: This is what happens when Planned Parenthood is defunded.

UPDATE, Tuesday, August 4, 3:30 p.m. PT (Becca Andrews): Bush later issued a statement that he “misspoke.” It reads: “There are countless community health centers, rural clinics, and other women’s health organizations that need to be fully funded. They provide critical services to all, but particularly low-income women who don’t have the access they need.” He goes on to say that the “half a billion dollars” line only referred to Planned Parenthood.

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Jeb Bush: "I’m Not Sure We Need Half a Billion Dollars" for Women’s Health

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No, the fight over Planned Parenthood is not over

by BrandiKirke0 Posted on August 4, 2015

Protesters stand on a sidewalk outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Vista, Calif., on August 3, 2015. Reuters / Mike Blake

No, the fight over Planned Parenthood is not over

By on 4 Aug 2015commentsShare

On Monday, the Senate — by a margin of seven votes — voted down the Sen. Jodi Ernst (R-Iowa)-sponsored bill that would eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Fifty-three senators voted in favor of said bill, with 46 voting against it, which failed to meet the 60-vote majority required for the bill to avoid a filibuster. On one hand, great — the bill didn’t pass, as was expected! But on the other hand, more than half of our elected officials in the Senate don’t believe that Planned Parenthood, an indispensable institution for national public health, deserves public funding. As a result, this issue is certainly going to come up again this fall, when it’s time for the government spending bill to pass.

Planned Parenthood is under attack on a state level, too: After the Senate GOP loss, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) announced that the state would immediately terminate its Medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood, effectively cutting off access to services for 4,300 low-income, uninsured clients. Louisiana is already the not-so-proud mother of some of the worst reproductive health statistics in the country.

To review, this whole mess is spurred by one extremist organization releasing intentionally misleading and inaccurate videos on Planned Parenthood activities surrounding abortion — which, for the record, only make up 3 percent of the organization’s services and have not been federally funded since 1976.

A very brief rundown of the public health good that Planned Parenthood provides: The organization serves 37 percent of all clients who rely on Title X-funded health centers and offers contraceptive care that prevents over 500,000 unintended pregnancies annually. And overwhelmingly, the women and men who depend on Planned Parenthood are low-income and, without its services, would be left without access to necessary procedures like Pap smears, STD testing, and breast, ovarian, and uterine cancer screenings.

Ongoing threats to defund and destroy Planned Parenthood, and publicly funded family planning organizations like it, are more than just large-scale acts of aggression on women. They are direct attacks on a very specific segment of women — those who are poor, or undocumented, or very young. They are those who, quite literally, have nowhere else to go.

It’s 2015, and the United States is still torn in two over a woman’s right to control her reproductive health. If you’d like to go ahead and cryogenically freeze yourself to get away from this absurd saga, don’t bother — I’m willing to bet, based on history, that we’ll still be in the same spot in 50 or 100 years. That is, if we’re not all underwater or on fire by then.

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No, the fight over Planned Parenthood is not over

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Trump Adds a Touch of Class to the Anti-Planned Parenthood Mob

by KaliSabofrv Posted on August 4, 2015

Mother Jones

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In a radio interview yesterday with conservative host Hugh Hewitt, Donald Trump took the unusual step of agreeing with other Republican presidential candidates. He said that it would be better for the federal government to shut down than to continue funding Planned Parenthood.

“The only way to get rid of Planned Parenthood money for selling off baby parts is to shut the government down in September. Would you support that?” Hewitt asked. Trump replied, “Well I can tell you this. I would.” In the late ’90s, Trump said he supported keeping late-term abortions legal, but since first considering a run for the GOP nomination in 2011, he has been pro-life.

Trump joins a long list of conservatives who have expressed outrage over undercover videos released by a network of anti-abortion activists last month. Jeb Bush also offered his two cents. “The next president should defund Planned Parenthood,” he said in an interview. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal severed the state’s Medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood yesterday. Meanwhile, the Senate debated a bill that aimed to strip all federal funding of Planned Parenthood. The bill ultimately failed after the threat of a Democratic filibuster led by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill.

Republican senators and 2016 hopefuls Ted Cruz and Rand Paul have promised to do everything in their power to deny funding to Planned Parenthood, even if it comes down to a government shutdown. Arizona Sen. John McCain, who chastised his colleagues for the 2013 shutdown, told NPR that he believes a shutdown would be justified in this case. “If Democrats want to stand before the American people and say they support this practice of dismembering unborn children, then that’s their privilege,” McCain said.

It’s possible that when Congress returns from its five-week August recess, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner will attach a new bill to defund Planned Parenthood to a must-pass budget bill, employing the same tactics that were used in the 2013 shutdown.

Now that Trump has signed on to a potential shutdown, he thinks it could succeed. He acknowledged to Hewitt that the government shutdown over the Affordable Care Act in 2013 was a political disaster for the Republicans—but that was their own fault. “If they had stuck together, they would have won that battle,” he asserted. “I think you have to in this case, also.”

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Trump Adds a Touch of Class to the Anti-Planned Parenthood Mob

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