STATEMENT FROM CONGRESSWOMAN SHEILA JACKSON LEE REGARDING JUDICIARY COMMITTEE HEARING REGARDING PLANNED PARENTHOOD
Washington, DC - Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a Senior Member of the House Judiciary Committee, released the following statement in reference to today's hearing regarding Planned Parenthood:
"Planned Parenthood has been a trusted provider of women's health care for years. A hidden-camera video released a few weeks back purported to show that Planned Parenthood illegally sells tissue from aborted fetuses. It shows nothing of the sort. But it is the latest in a series of unrelenting attacks on Planned Parenthood, which offers health care services to millions of people every year. The politicians howling to defund Planned Parenthood care nothing about the truth here, being perfectly willing to undermine women's reproductive rights any way they can.
"The nine-minute video clip released by the Center for Medical Progress, an outfit apparently created in 2013, invites viewers to ‘Hold Planned Parenthood accountable for their illegal sale of baby parts.' In it, Planned Parenthood's senior director of medical services is seen discussing the collection of fetal tissue in a lunch meeting with two people posing as potential tissue buyers. A second video shows another Planned Parenthood staff member discussing fetal tissue.
"Planned Parenthood serves 2.7 million women, men, and young people. 1.5 million of those patients received services through Title X — the nation's family planning program. At least 78 percent of Planned Parenthood's health care patients live with incomes of 150 percent of the federal poverty level or less (the equivalent of $36,375 a year for a family of four in 2015). At least 60 percent of the patients Planned Parenthood serves each year benefit from public health coverage programs such as the nation's family planning program and Medicaid. Patients came into Planned Parenthood health centers 4.6 million times for services. 2.2 million, or nearly 52 percent of all patient visits, were with patients enrolled in Medicaid. Planned Parenthood provided 10.6 million services. They provide nearly 400,000 Pap tests, nearly 500,000 breast exams and nearly 4.5 million STI tests and treatments, including HIV tests.
"This hearing is being used to attack legal abortion again. Fetal tissue research is a miracle scientific process used to save lives. Planned Parenthood is about women's health for desperate women in need. They have also helped with fetal research.
"Researchers use fetal tissue to study and develop treatments for diseases and conditions like H.I.V., hepatitis, congenital heart defects, retinal degeneration and Parkinson's. Last year, the National Institutes of Health gave $76 million in grants for fetal tissue research. Planned Parenthood is certainly not the only collector of fetal tissue — clinics associated with universities also supply tissue for research. Again they help but only in a minuscule manner.
"Again, this hearing today is just another witch hunt against Planned Parenthood. Anti-abortion groups and members of the Republican Party have long pushed to defund Planned Parenthood, even though no federal money is used to provide abortions, in compliance with the Hyde Amendment. But that has not stopped their efforts to shut down the clinics, which provide services like contraception, cancer screening and other tests. The Center for Medical Progress — which managed to get tax-exempt status in 2013 as a biomedicine charity, according to a report by The Huffington Post — appears to have done little beyond producing the undercover video. The Center for Medical Progress video campaign is a dishonest attempt to make legal, voluntary and potentially lifesaving tissue donations appear nefarious and illegal. Lawmakers responding by promoting their own anti-choice agenda are rewarding deception and putting women's health and their constitutionally protected rights at risk.
"Planned Parenthood health centers in Texas have been critical to the success of the Women's Health Program. Planned Parenthood is the single largest provider of care within the Women's Health Program and consistently delivers high-quality care to low-income women. In fact, over 40 percent of women who received services through the Women's Health Program chose to rely on a Planned Parenthood health center for Women's Health Program services, which include lifesaving cancer screenings, well-woman exams, contraception, screening for diabetes and high blood pressure, and testing for sexually transmitted infections.
"In addition to providing health care services, Planned Parenthood staff also promote Women's Health Program enrollment by assisting clients with eligibility determination and the enrollment process. By ensuring that eligible women are enrolled in the Women's Health Program, Planned Parenthood's nonprofit health centers have helped expand the program's reach. We must put politics aside and focus on women's health and the right of women to determine which qualified professionals who provide them care."
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