Dozens of Organizations Call on Trump to Stop Defunding Planned Parenthood
One in three women have visited a Planned Parenthood. Cutting funding would 'block these patients from getting the care they need.'
Eighty-three organizations have called on Congress to stop the Trump administration’s plans to defund Planned Parenthood, describing the nation's biggest provider of reproductive health services as “an integral and irreplaceable part of the health care system.”
In a letter to Congress, the signatories, led by the National Women’s Law Center Action Fund, noted that cutting federal funding for Planned Parenthood would have devastating consequences for millions of people.
One in four people—including one in three women—have visited a Planned Parenthood health center for care, according to the letter, and Planned Parenthood provides over 2 million patients annually with essential, preventive reproductive health care, like birth control, cancer screenings, wellness exams, and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted illnesses.
“Planned Parenthood health centers primarily serve women, people with low incomes, Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities, LGBTQI+ people, and others who face barriers to accessing care,” the letter states. “The majority of Planned Parenthood patients rely on Medicaid and other federal and state programs to access care, and 64% of Planned Parenthood health centers are located in rural or medically underserved communities,” it adds. “‘Defunding’ Planned Parenthood would block these patients from getting the care they need.”
Back in March, Planned Parenthood said the administration was cutting federal family planning funding, affecting birth control, cancer screenings and other services. The organization said nine of its affiliates received notice that funding would be withheld.
At the time, it cited research showing that almost eight in 10 voters opposed the Trump administration taking away funds used for birth control for people with low incomes from Planned Parenthood health centers. That included 63% of Trump voters.
In a statement released on Tuesday this week, Jackii Wang, a senior legislative analyst at the National Women’s Law Center Action Fund, commented that the administration's effort to cut funding to Planned Parenthood was not about saving money. Instead, she said, “it’s a politically motivated campaign determined to gut access to reproductive health care.”
