Congressman Reichert Votes against Birth Control for Low-Income Women
Seattle, WA – Yesterday, in an underhanded attempt to deny low income Americans access to birth control, anti-choice leaders in the House offered an amendment to the Health and Human Services spending bill that would have prohibited any Title X dollars going to Planned Parenthood. The dangerous amendment, offered by Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), was defeated 231 – 189. “Congressman Reichert was one of 189 House members voting for this mean-spirited amendment,” said Karen Cooper, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Washington. “The Title X program provides birth control to low-income Americans and Planned Parenthood clinics play a key role in actually delivering those services,” Cooper said. “There are already a number of restrictive policies in place that ban any federal money from being used to pay for abortion care, and the notion that law makers would also try to deny low-income people birth control is very troubling,” she added. “Millions of Americans rely on Planned Parenthood clinics for basic health care services every year,” said Cooper. “I find it unconscionable that Reichert and his anti-choice cronies in Congress tried to single out an organization that provides cancer screening, breast exams, and birth control and target them for a ban on family planning funding just because some Planned Parenthood clinics also provide abortion care,” she said. “Reichert’s vote in favor of the Pence amendment was just another reminder of how truly out-of-step he is with the pro-choice voters of the 8th Congressional District,” Cooper said. “It is clearly time for a change,” she concluded. "NARAL Pro-Choice Washington thanks all of Washington's pro-choice House members, Representatives Baird, Dicks, Inslee, Larsen, McDermott and Smith, for voting against the divisive Pence amendment," Cooper said. ###
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