Westchester Women #StandWithPP and #PinkOut Against Defunding Planned Parenthood
Dina Sciortino
Westchester NOW members with Congress Woman Nita Lowey at a Planned Parenthood Rally on Monday, Sept. 28 – Courtesy the National Organization for Women (NOW) of Westchester County
Westchester is sick and tired of the efforts to demonize?and defund Planned Parenthood.
Residents, activists and elected officials are speaking out in support of Planned Parenthood and are asking Congress to include funding for the organization in its budget before the Sept. 30 deadline.
It is disappointing, but not surprising, that Republicans in Congress would risk a damaging government shutdown rather than support safe, high-quality womens health care services, said Congresswoman Nita?Lowey.
Despite Republican efforts to destroy Planned Parenthood, Westchester is?pinking out in it’s defense!
Lowey joined other legislators and Planned Parenthood?officials Monday at the Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic’s (PPHP) White Plains office in a rally that urged Congress to pass a bill that would continue to fund the organization.
According to the Daily Voice,?other?attendees included: New York Assemblywomen Ellen Jaffee,?Amy Paulin,?Sandy Galef and?Shelley Mayer; Assemblymen?Tom Abinanti and?David Buchwald; Westchester County Legislator MaryJane Shimsky and?White Plains Mayor Tom Roach.
Conservatives have been long trying get rid of Planned Parenthood due to their religious beliefs that abortions are immoral, and bolstered their efforts after videos surfaced claiming that?Planned Parenthood engages in illegal fetal tissue sales.
These vicious, unfounded attacks take away attention from the real work we doprovide vital health care to women, men, and teens, said Reina Schiffrin, President & CEO of PPHP. Now we face the threat of losing federal funding to provide these services. We cant, and we wont, let that happen.
Only 3 percent of?Planned Parenthood’s work involves abortions and federal funds are forbidden from being used for those?services?(except in extreme cases like rape and incest).?Planned Parenthood?does legally donate fetal tissue from aborted fetus’, but it is not sold and isn’t a secret.
Planned Parenthood health centers play an irreplaceable role in the U.S. health care system,” said Lowey. “We simply cannot cut their federal reimbursements and grants, which would jeopardize safe, vital, and effective health care services for millions of Americans, including more than 19,000 women, men, and teens in the Lower Hudson Valley.
Defunding Planned Parenthood would jeopardize access for 19,000 women, men, and teens in the Lower Hudson Valley who depend on?PPH’s?cancer screenings, birth control, sexually transmitted disease ?testing and treatment, well-woman exams and advice on family planning.
Planned Parenthood?estimates that 2.7 million Americans rely on them for preventative health services (which accounts for 90 percent of its services) each year.
Planned Parenthood is credited with:
Providing family planning counseling and contraception for 2.1 million patients
Preventing an estimated 516,000 unintended pregnancies every year
