Forty Republican state representatives decided earlier last week to introduce legislation in the Minnesota House that would revoke access to Title X funding for Planned Parenthood in Minnesota.
Title X, a federal funding program created by bipartisan legislation in 1972, is designed to help low-income, uninsured and rural patients with family planning. It also helps women receive quality preventative health care, including breast exams and pap smears.
Revoking Title X funding for Planned Parenthood would impact 23,000 women who directly rely on it for their medical care.
This concerted effort by House members to use women’s access to health care as the basis for a debate on abortion and reproductive rights horrifies us. We urge legislators to oppose this bill and any future measures like it.
Last year, national legislators attempted to pass a similar bill in Congress after anti-abortion activists published several doctored videos attacking Planned Parenthood. This attempt to defund Planned Parenthood at the federal level failed after President Barack Obama vetoed the measure. However, states around the country are still facing internal battles regarding the right for women to receive necessary medical care.
These battles shouldn’t be happening at all. Under no circumstances should politicians — whether at a federal or state level — have the right to debate whether women deserve access to medical care.
We urge our state Congress to present more useful legislation and not to debate anything which wastes the time of taxpayers who expect their legislators to improve this state.
