These people just never stop with their attacks on women and their reproductive rights. Mike Pence ended his speech, which sounded like a cross between a sermon and a high school basketball coach giving him team a pep talk, with an attack on Planned Parenthood.
Pence: You know I believe that ending an innocent human life is morally wrong, but it's also morally wrong to take the taxpayer dollars of millions of pro-life Americans and use it to promote abortion at home and abroad. This administration has opened the flood gates to providing and promoting support for abortion overseas and let me say from my heart, the largest abortion provider in America should not be the largest recipient of federal funding under Title Ten. The time has come to deny any and all federal funding to Planned Parenthood of America!
What was it that Al Franken used to say about Republicans? They believe life begins at conception and ends at birth. Sounds about right here too. Hey Mike, can I deny having my tax dollars to go to killing innocent people overseas with these useless wars your party's dear leader Dubya decided to start? How about that as a pro-life position?
No, Mike Pence wants to cut off spending for Planned Parenthood. Here's a portion of their press release after the Women's Health Amendment was added to the health care bill.
The amendment will guarantee health insurance coverage for women’s basic preventive care and screenings at no cost to the patient.
“More than 90 percent of the care Planned Parenthood affiliate health centers provide is primary and preventive, and the doctors and nurses who deliver that care witness on a daily basis the real need to ensure that women have access to critical tests, screenings, and regular check-ups. That’s because preventive health care is life-saving health care,” said PPFA President Cecile Richards. “Women of childbearing age spend 68 percent more in out-of-pocket health care costs than men, in part because of reproductive health-related needs. It is time that women’s health is made a priority, and providing affordable access to essential care is key. We applaud Senator Mikulski and her colleagues for working to make sure that women are better off under health care reform.”
The Women’s Health Amendment would require health plans to cover comprehensive preventive care and screenings that address women’s unique health care needs without cost sharing. Currently, coverage of comprehensive preventive health care is not guaranteed at zero cost sharing under the bill — for example, regular well-women visits, breast exams, and contraceptive services are not required to be covered at zero cost-sharing.
Planned Parenthood does a whole lot more than offer abortion services and Mike Pence is well aware of that. That won't stop him from demagoguing the issue and fanning the flames on abortion.
