Press Releases

 
In a strongly worded speech on the House Floor today, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree stood up for Planned Parenthood and criticized attempts to defund the organization and put them out of business.
 
"Let's be clear about who is really behind the attempts to defund Planned Parenthood:  radical anti-abortion groups who want to shut down Planned Parenthood and deny women access to safe and legal abortion. These are groups who want to deny women the right to make private, personal medical decisions.  And in the process they want to take away their access to birth control, family planning services and even basic health care," Pingree said on the House floor.
 
Pingree voted against a bill today pushed by Republican leaders that would end funding for Planned Parenthood.  She also opposing a separate piece of legislation aimed to intimidate doctors and make it more difficult for women to access safe, legal abortionservices.  Both bills passed, largely along party lines.
 
The full text of Pingree's remarks are below:

Mr. Speaker, defunding Planned Parenthood would have a real, profound, negativeimpact on the 10,000 people in Maine who get health care from Planned Parenthood every year, many of whom have no other access to care. 

Planned Parenthood provides basic health care like cancer screenings, vaccinations,wellness exams and STD testing.  Basic care that will mean the difference between health and sickness….prosperity and poverty…or even life and death, for women in my state.

But let's be clear about who is really behind the attempts to defund Planned Parenthood:  radical anti-abortion groups who want to shut down Planned Parenthood and deny women access to safe and legal abortion.  
 
These are groups who want to deny women the right to make private, personal medical decisions.  And in the process they want to take away their access to birth control, family planning services and even basic health care.  
 
And they have orchestrated a false, misleading smear campaign to try and accomplish their goal.  
 
I urge you to vote no and stand up for women's right to make their own decisions about health care and protect their access to basic medical services.