Statement by Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, on Rep. Mike Pence’s Press Conference to Defund Planned Parenthood

WASHINGTON - "In the last two days, House leadership and Representative Mike Pence have made their agenda for this country abundantly clear: target women’s health care programs and women’s health providers under the guise of deficit reduction.

"The House Republican leadership’s latest proposal to completely eliminate the national family planning program, called Title X, is outrageous. This is an extreme and dangerous proposal that would abolish a program that provides lifesaving, preventive care to millions of women each year and saves taxpayers money This program has helped millions of women since 1970, when President Richard M. Nixon signed it into law.

"Simply put, eliminating the national family planning program will result in millions of women across the country losing access to basic primary and preventive health care, such as lifesaving cancer screenings, contraception, HIV testing and counseling, STI testing and treatment, and annual exams. For six in 10 women who receive medical care from doctors and nurses at family planning health centers like those run by Planned Parenthood, these centers are their main source of health care. 

"If these proposals pass, more women will find out later than they should that they have cancer and many more women will be at risk for unintended pregnancies.

"In addition, Representative Pence’s proposal to exclude Planned Parenthood from all critical public health funding streams will hurt Americans — taking away health care that millions of women receive today. Representative Pence’s proposal is an unprecedented, ideological attack on a specific health care provider that will result in more women losing access to the very basic health care they need.

"It is unconscionable that Representative Mike Pence and other members of Congress would link arms in a press conference today with Live Action, a discredited extremist organization whose leader has called for abortions to take place in public.

"There is a coordinated and highly political effort to undermine Planned Parenthood and the health care we provide.  This effort includes fraudulent activities driven by organizations with a clear mission to eliminate family planning, birth control, and legal abortion. Simply put, their goal is to prevent women from accessing reproductive health care services. That is unacceptable and immoral.

"Representative Mike Pence’s bill to defund Planned Parenthood and his support to eliminate the national family planning program (Title X) is bad policy and bad politics. That’s why we urge Congress to reject this dangerous proposal."

BACKGROUND:

Other members of Congress scheduled for attendance: Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH), Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC), Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY), Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD).

Data on Representative’s states receiving Title X funding:

Indiana Title X Funding details:
28 health centers
77,364 clients served
14,440 patients Title X
50.11% of Title X female contraceptive patients served by Planned Parenthood
67,719 STI Tests
16,435 Pap Tests
20,908 Breast Exams

Maryland Title X Funding details:
Receives Title X Funding
10 health centers
36,369 clients served
15,621 patients Title X
32.76% of Title X female contraceptive patients served by Planned Parenthood
40,491 STI Tests
7,878 Pap Tests
7,528 Breast Exams

Missouri Title X Funding details:
Receives Title X Funding
17 health centers
52,382 clients served
18,631 patients Title X
42.35% of Title X female contraceptive patients served by Planned Parenthood
74,944 STI Tests
13,177 Pap Tests
13,034 Breast Exams

New York Title X Funding details:
Receives Title X Funding
68 health centers
223,148 clients served
153,290 patients Title X
58.11% of Title X female contraceptive patients served by Planned Parenthood
321,913 STI Tests
71,804 Pap Tests
70,555 Breast Exams

North Carolina Title X Funding details:
9 health centers
30,066 clients served
602 patients Title X
8.02% of Title X female contraceptive patients served by Planned Parenthood
20,215 STI Tests
5,777 Pap Tests
5,456 Breast Exams

Ohio Title X Funding details:
35 health centers
97,441 clients served
63,529 patients Title X
56.58% of Title X female contraceptive patients served by Planned Parenthood
110,910 STI Tests
24,193 Pap Tests
23,231 Breast Exams

Live Action’s History of Deceptive Editing

Several news organizations have analyzed Live Action tapes, and found evidence of selective editing to create a false impression. Live Action has a history of using deceptive tactics and doctoring video.

2011: Roanoke Times Editorial: Scam video. An editorial in the Roanoke Times rebutted Live Action’s edited tape, saying: “Live Action's scurrilous attempts to portray Virginia Planned Parenthood clinics, including the one in Roanoke, as willing facilitators of the sexual exploitation of girls must be denounced for what they are: lies…. What Live  Action's surreptitious taping does not — indeed, could not possibly — show is the clinic staff's real response to their strange, disturbing visitor.” (Roanoke Times editorial,  2/8/11) http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/276293

2010: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Rebuts Live Action’s edited tape in Wisconsin. An editorial in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel exposed Live Action’s edited tape, saying: “Live Action says there were conflicting statements in the video about fetal viability, when it's a baby and heart tones vs. heartbeats. But a viewing of the fullest tape available reveals that the clinician and doctor go to lengths to tell the woman about embryonic and fetal development. She leaves before she can be examined.” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 8/2/2010) http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/99791324.html

2009: Los Angeles Times Rebuts Live Action’s edited tape in Indianapolis. The Los Angeles Times analyzed a videotape Live Action made inside an Indianapolis Planned Parenthood health center and said, “The conversation in the uncut version is more nuanced than the edited five-minute version, and includes a staffer stating emphatically, ‘We have to follow the laws,’ and another urging Rose to tell her mother about the pregnancy.” (Los Angeles Times; 4/26/09) http://articles.latimes.com/print/2009/apr/26/nation/na-abortion26

CNN: Live Action videos reminiscent of edited O’Keefe videos. CNN reports, “the Live  Action videos are reminiscent of those by right-wing videographer James O'Keefe…. O'Keefe's videos were found in at least two investigations to be so heavily edited as to be an unreliable record of what happened, showing no evidence of any wrongdoing by ACORN staff members…. The Live Action videos also appear to be heavily edited.” [http://edition.cnn.com/2011/US/02/08/abortion.video.retraining/]

Media Matters: Live Action Doctors and Manipulates Video. According to an analysis by Media Matters, “Live Action also appears to have doctored the audio of its Richmond‘sting,’ moving audio from one portion of their video to a different portion.” (Media Matters: “Why Is Live Action Doctoring Its Planned Parenthood Audio?”; 2/4/11)
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201102040026