March, 31 2016, 12:45pm EDT
NARAL Calls Out Latest Dangerous Select Investigative Panel Attack Against Universities, Labs
WASHINGTON
Today, NARAL Pro-Choice America joins U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and members of the Senate Democratic Caucus to highlight the latest dangerous action from Republicans on the House Select Investigative Panel. Just yesterday, the Panel issued a new round of subpoenas targeting universities, labs, and others as a part of a taxpayer-funded witch hunt by committee Republicans. The senators will join NARAL on Twitter this afternoon to mobilize advocates against these latest attacks.
Ilyse Hogue, President of NARAL Pro-Choice America, issued the following statement:
"While the anti-choice members of the Select Committee continue their partisan, taxpayer-funded witch hunt with the subpoenas issued yesterday, women across the country - including me - remain repulsed by their dangerous actions targeting students, researchers, and healthcare providers. In the months following the act of domestic terrorism at Planned Parenthood in Colorado, we can all agree that this is exact opposite of what members of Congress should be spending their time on. No one should have to fear for their safety when seeking health care or conducting vital research, but that's the position the GOP members of this committee have put these individuals in.
"Twenty different states have either investigated the false claims against Planned Parenthood and cleared them completely, or decided against investigating because there was no evidence of wrongdoing. There is no reason to continue this witch hunt, except to waste taxpayer money and put individuals in danger, which the committee seems determined to do.
"NARAL Pro-Choice America is proud to stand with pro-choice senators and representatives today and every day as they call out committee GOP leadership for politicizing reproductive freedom and potentially endangering lives in the process."
U.S. Senator Patty Murray issued the following statement:
"The partisan effort to undermine Planned Parenthood and interfere with women's health care is bad enough--but with this new attempt to single out individuals and get in the way of lifesaving research, House Republicans have sunk to a new low. It is only becoming clearer that this investigation is short on facts and long on politics, and it's time for Republicans to realize that enough is enough."
For over 50 years, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for everybody. Reproductive Freedom for All is powered by its more than 4 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.
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Addressing the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and conversations it has sparked about the country's for-profit system, longtime Medicare for All advocate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday condemned the murder and stressed that getting to universal coverage will require a movement challenging corporate money in politics.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—a co-sponsor of Sanders' Medicare for All Act—similarly toldHuffPost in a Tuesday interview, "The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system."
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Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) 2024 roundup, which was published Thursday, found that at least 54 journalists were killed on the job or in connection with their work this year, and 18 of them were killed by Israeli armed forces (16 in Palestine, and two in Lebanon).
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