Esty Condemns Speaker Ryan’s Promise to Defund Planned Parenthood

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty (CT-5) today issued the following statement after House Speaker Paul Ryan announced that House Republicans would move to strip Planned Parenthood of all federal funding:

“The federal funds Planned Parenthood receives make vital health services including lifesaving breast exams, Pap smears, and ovarian cancer screenings affordable and accessible for women throughout the country. As the largest provider of health care services to women in this country, Planned Parenthood plays a vital role in ensuring the health of Americans. Taking Planned Parenthood’s funding away would be a shameful attack on the most vulnerable among us. I will forcefully oppose – and women and men throughout this country will forcefully oppose – any attempt to rob Americans of health care services that they quite literally depend on for survival.

“I grew up in a town where many young women didn’t have access to basic reproductive health care and saw how it irrevocably altered the course of their lives. That’s why when I was in college, I volunteered with Planned Parenthood. I’ve seen firsthand the very real and important difference reproductive health services make for women and their families.

“Congress needs to ensure that all preventive health care services are affordable and accessible to all. The GOP’s proposed attack on women’s health is exactly the opposite of what the American people want. I urge my colleagues to reconsider this dangerous proposal and put the needs of the public before partisan politics.”

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