SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Sanders: 'We Will Fight' Planned Parenthood Defunding Campaign
Senator tweets series of messages in support of healthcare group after GOP leaders promise to cut off its federal assistance as part of Obamacare repeal
Jan 09, 2017
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Monday said Democrats would fight Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, ridiculing the plan as an "obsession" that "has nothing to do with improving healthcare" and everything to do with shutting down abortion providers.
" Republicans in Congress have returned to their old obsession of trying to defund Planned Parenthood. This is outrageous for many reasons," Sanders tweeted. "Abortions are not only legal. They are constitutionally protected, a right which was affirmed again in a Supreme Court ruling last summer," referring to the landmark decision in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt that found the state of Texas could not place restrictions on abortion access that created an undue burden for woman--considered the biggest reproductive rights case since Roe v. Wade in 1973.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who has been leading the charge to overhaul federal healthcare policies, confirmed last Thursday that defunding Planned Parenthood will be included in the Republicans' "reconciliation" bill, which will also repeal the core of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The bill is expected to be introduced as early as this week.
Reproductive rights groups have been conducting an ongoing campaign of support for the organization, but the urgency of their message was amped up after Ryan's announcement, the denouement of a 15-month long GOP-led investigation into Planned Parenthood that ended with a recommendation to strip the group of federal funding. On Friday, NARAL Pro-Choice America tweeted, "Access to [reproductive health] care is a human right," and urged supporters to call his office.
But Ryan has remained obstinate. He reportedly called security on Planned Parenthood volunteers who had gathered at his office on Friday to deliver 87,000 petitions asking him to protect federal funding for the organization--prompting the creation of the hashtag #PaulRyanSoScared.
The healthcare provider has long been in Republican crosshairs. President-elect Donald Trump's nomination in November of anti-choice Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) as health and human services secretary seemed to confirm widespread fears that a newly emboldened defunding campaign would soon come.
Efforts to block federal assistance for the organization are already underway in some states--such as, perhaps unsurprisingly, Texas--where state health officials delivered a final legal notice in December that Title IX funds would be shut off in 30 days. Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards warned at the time that "if the nation goes the way of Texas, it will be nothing less than a national healthcare disaster."
As Sanders noted Monday, "Planned Parenthood mostly helps low-income people. Four out of five of those who benefit are at or below 150 percent of the poverty line. Women in this country have a right to healthcare [and] a right to control their own bodies. No cuts to Planned Parenthood. We will fight back."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Monday said Democrats would fight Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, ridiculing the plan as an "obsession" that "has nothing to do with improving healthcare" and everything to do with shutting down abortion providers.
" Republicans in Congress have returned to their old obsession of trying to defund Planned Parenthood. This is outrageous for many reasons," Sanders tweeted. "Abortions are not only legal. They are constitutionally protected, a right which was affirmed again in a Supreme Court ruling last summer," referring to the landmark decision in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt that found the state of Texas could not place restrictions on abortion access that created an undue burden for woman--considered the biggest reproductive rights case since Roe v. Wade in 1973.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who has been leading the charge to overhaul federal healthcare policies, confirmed last Thursday that defunding Planned Parenthood will be included in the Republicans' "reconciliation" bill, which will also repeal the core of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The bill is expected to be introduced as early as this week.
Reproductive rights groups have been conducting an ongoing campaign of support for the organization, but the urgency of their message was amped up after Ryan's announcement, the denouement of a 15-month long GOP-led investigation into Planned Parenthood that ended with a recommendation to strip the group of federal funding. On Friday, NARAL Pro-Choice America tweeted, "Access to [reproductive health] care is a human right," and urged supporters to call his office.
But Ryan has remained obstinate. He reportedly called security on Planned Parenthood volunteers who had gathered at his office on Friday to deliver 87,000 petitions asking him to protect federal funding for the organization--prompting the creation of the hashtag #PaulRyanSoScared.
The healthcare provider has long been in Republican crosshairs. President-elect Donald Trump's nomination in November of anti-choice Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) as health and human services secretary seemed to confirm widespread fears that a newly emboldened defunding campaign would soon come.
Efforts to block federal assistance for the organization are already underway in some states--such as, perhaps unsurprisingly, Texas--where state health officials delivered a final legal notice in December that Title IX funds would be shut off in 30 days. Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards warned at the time that "if the nation goes the way of Texas, it will be nothing less than a national healthcare disaster."
As Sanders noted Monday, "Planned Parenthood mostly helps low-income people. Four out of five of those who benefit are at or below 150 percent of the poverty line. Women in this country have a right to healthcare [and] a right to control their own bodies. No cuts to Planned Parenthood. We will fight back."
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Monday said Democrats would fight Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, ridiculing the plan as an "obsession" that "has nothing to do with improving healthcare" and everything to do with shutting down abortion providers.
" Republicans in Congress have returned to their old obsession of trying to defund Planned Parenthood. This is outrageous for many reasons," Sanders tweeted. "Abortions are not only legal. They are constitutionally protected, a right which was affirmed again in a Supreme Court ruling last summer," referring to the landmark decision in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt that found the state of Texas could not place restrictions on abortion access that created an undue burden for woman--considered the biggest reproductive rights case since Roe v. Wade in 1973.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who has been leading the charge to overhaul federal healthcare policies, confirmed last Thursday that defunding Planned Parenthood will be included in the Republicans' "reconciliation" bill, which will also repeal the core of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The bill is expected to be introduced as early as this week.
Reproductive rights groups have been conducting an ongoing campaign of support for the organization, but the urgency of their message was amped up after Ryan's announcement, the denouement of a 15-month long GOP-led investigation into Planned Parenthood that ended with a recommendation to strip the group of federal funding. On Friday, NARAL Pro-Choice America tweeted, "Access to [reproductive health] care is a human right," and urged supporters to call his office.
But Ryan has remained obstinate. He reportedly called security on Planned Parenthood volunteers who had gathered at his office on Friday to deliver 87,000 petitions asking him to protect federal funding for the organization--prompting the creation of the hashtag #PaulRyanSoScared.
The healthcare provider has long been in Republican crosshairs. President-elect Donald Trump's nomination in November of anti-choice Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) as health and human services secretary seemed to confirm widespread fears that a newly emboldened defunding campaign would soon come.
Efforts to block federal assistance for the organization are already underway in some states--such as, perhaps unsurprisingly, Texas--where state health officials delivered a final legal notice in December that Title IX funds would be shut off in 30 days. Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards warned at the time that "if the nation goes the way of Texas, it will be nothing less than a national healthcare disaster."
As Sanders noted Monday, "Planned Parenthood mostly helps low-income people. Four out of five of those who benefit are at or below 150 percent of the poverty line. Women in this country have a right to healthcare [and] a right to control their own bodies. No cuts to Planned Parenthood. We will fight back."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy