00:01Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address the House and oppose the defunding of Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide.
00:10The Republicans' cruel budget bill, which all Democrats opposed, included a provision to block federal Planned Parenthood clinics from receiving Medicaid funds.
00:24This was a devastating choice that Republicans have made and will undoubtedly impact families across the nation.
00:34Planned Parenthood does not just provide birth control.
00:39Clinics provide basic health care exams, cancer screenings and vaccinations.
00:46People across this country today will walk into Planned Parenthoods across counties and states to receive both diagnostic and care for cervical cancer, for hypertension and for basic medical care.
01:01Earlier this year, the largest Planned Parenthood health center in the country opened in my district, named after my predecessor and champion of reproductive health access, Congresswoman and now Mayor Barbara Lee.
01:15The Barbara Lee Oakland Health Center has over 19 exam rooms and is transit accessible.
01:23But the Republican budget bill will put Planned Parenthood centers like ours across the country at risk.
01:31200 of the 600 Planned Parenthood clinics across the country may close and women will die.
01:40Planned Parenthood closures will disproportionately impact black and brown mothers who already have a maternal mortality rate more than three times as their white counterparts.
01:53These cuts will disproportionately impact poor folks, access to reproductive health care, since 40% of all births in this country are covered by the very Medicaid services that are now being gutted.
02:07These are matters, as I said before, of life and death for us in our district and for women across the country.
02:16I was a young mother living in public housing in San Francisco when I had my first daughter at 19, but I was able to get by.
02:24I was able to go to school and raise a wonderful daughter and put her through college and law school because I had access to care and institutions who cared about my life.
02:34If we want people to be healthy in this country and participate in their communities and work, we need to open up choices and we need to provide more opportunity instead of less.
02:47That is why I offered an amendment to the Republican budget reconciliation bill that would have protected the vital services of Planned Parenthood.
02:57Republicans killed that amendment, but this will not stop our collective work, my work, to ensure that people in our district and around the country and in rural communities and in urban communities have the access that they so deserve.
03:13Their lives are depending on it.
03:15And just this week, the district courts put a temporary pause on parts of the Republican bill that would defund Planned Parenthood and we will continue to fight back.
03:26Planned Parenthood is vital.
03:28It is vital to the community's health and we cannot and I will not stand by while it is defunded and while our health is devalued.
03:38I was that young mother.
03:40We and our families, our children deserve better.
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