Planned Parenthood Supporters Hold “Emergency Rally” In Response to Proposed Congressional Defund Bill

Pasadena Planned Parenthood supporters rallied in front of Congresswoman Judy Chu’s office on South Lake Ave. Tuesday evening to raise awareness of and speak out against the Obamacare Repeal Bill in the House of Representatives, which includes language that would defund Planned Parenthood for a year if the organization continues to provide abortion services to women.

“What we’re doing today is a part of a national movement of people who oppose those efforts [to defund Planned Parenthood],” explained Julianne S. Hines, Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Advocates Pasadena and San Gabriel Valley. “We believe that everybody regardless of who you are or where you live has a right to receive healthcare and particularly being able to choose to go to a provider like Planned Parenthood who often is one of the only places that most people can really access the reproductive health care that they need.”

Reacting to the demonstration, Elizabeth Boydston, the leader of the Pasadena branch of the “40 days for Life” Campaign, said her organization supports the defunding legislation.

“Planned Parenthood isn’t giving away abortions for free,” Boydston said. “They hold big ticket fundraisers, as much as $500 per ticket. On top of that, they are getting almost half a billion of our tax dollars. That’s unacceptable.”

Planned Parenthood which receives about $500 million annually in federal funding for women’s healthcare services excluding abortions, according to government and media sources. Its abortion services are funded by the State of California.

Federal dollars help pay for women’s basic primary and preventive health care services the organization provides, which include well-woman exams, cervical and breast cancer screening, birth control and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, according to federal reports.

Almost one million women in California alone rely on Planned Parenthood’s health services each year, the organization says.

“By defunding a provider like Planned Parenthood, particularly here in California where Planned Parenthood really is a part of the public healthcare system, what’s going to end up happening is that the need for abortions is going to shoot way up. If people can’t access reproductive health care, they can’t birth control and the need for abortion will actually skyrocket,” said Hines.

Abortion services make up a very small portion of patient visits and procedures performed, according to Hines.

“We’re not going to abandon our patients in order to obtain more funding for other kinds of services at the expense of abortion,” explained Hines who described Planned Parenthood’s abortion services as a legal and needed medical procedure.

One in five women has used Planned Parenthood in her lifetime, according to the Planned Parenthood website.

The San Gabriel Valley Planned Parenthood facilities saw approximately 55,000 patient visits last year alone, according to the organization.

“We know that when legal abortion services are not accessible to people it does not eliminate abortion–it puts women’s lives in danger. It’s not going to stop people from having abortions. It simply stops them from having safe abortions,” said Hines.

“This is really about women’s lives. It’s about women’s ability to be safe and to have access to the health care services that they need,” Hines added.

According to a 2015 report, the California Primary Care Association wrote that defunding Planned Parenthood would place “untenable stress” on their facilities.

According to Hines, the maternal mortality rate in Texas has more than doubled since Texas slashed the family planning budget by two-thirds in 2011 and forced 53 clinics to close.

As a result of Texas’ efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, 54% fewer patients received care and experts were anticipating nearly 24,000 unplanned births between 2014-2015 alone, raising state and federal taxpayers Medicaid costs by $273 million.

“If you eliminate our ability to provide those services in the community, it’s not so much that you’re eliminating Planned Parenthood, it’s that you’re eliminating healthcare for millions of people who desperately need it,” said Hines.

Today, more than 4.1 million Americans rely on affordable family planning services that are funded by Title X that include the basic primary and preventive health care services listed earlier.

Planned Parenthood is the only Title X provider in Congresswoman Chu’s District, according to Hines.

“For us here in Pasadena we know that our Congresswoman Judy Chu is really at the forefront of that movement. She understands how critical it is for her constituents to be able to receive this healthcare and the benefits that the ACA has brought to her constituents should not be rolled back and cannot be rolled back. Part of today is to thank her for that work and to continue to let her see in a very visible way that the majority of her constituents have her back in this fight,” said Hines.

Planned Parenthood also provides education services in addition to health services which include community outreach through public and private schools and through partnerships with various community organizations.

“Strengthening those family connections is critically important to us and a good part of the work that we do and I think not enough people know that,” said Hines.

Meanwhile, Boydston said her group holds a much dimmer view of Planned Parenthood and the demonstration Tuesday.

“Planned Parenthood is in the news constantly, its a lightning rod of controversy—with stories about been caught shielding child predators, lying about what services they provide, defying state and federal laws, submitting fraudulent Medicaid claims, and harvesting and selling fetal tissue,” she said. “Do we really want these bad actors continuing to do business in our neighborhood?”