Vote to Defund Planned Parenthood

Today I voted to halt federal funding for Planned Parenthood and instead fund community health clinics that offer women’s health services but not abortions. I also voted in favor of legislation providing protection and care for survivors of abortions. I am a cosponsor of both bills

Last year, Planned Parenthood received half a billion dollars in taxpayer funding. Several videos have brought to light multiple questionable and gruesome practices. No organization that may have taken illegal actions should receive hard-earned taxpayer dollars. The funds should go instead to community health clinics that do not perform abortions.

This week, the House Judiciary Committee, on which I serve, also heard testimony from several witnesses who miraculously survived abortions. The Born Alive Infant Protection Act ensures that children born alive after an abortion attempt receive the same care as any other child born under different circumstances.

Videos of Planned Parenthood executives that surfaced over the past few months raised questions of whether the tax-exempt group has been engaging in illegal activity: trafficking fetal body parts, and performing abortion procedures similar to outlawed partial-birth abortions in order to harvest organs.

In addition to the ongoing congressional investigation, I have joined 133 House colleagues in calling for a formal Department of Justice investigation into the questionable Planned Parenthood activities.

A long-time opponent of federal funding being used for abortions, I have received recognition from the National Right to Life for his pro-life record and support of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would ban all abortions after 20 weeks.

A map released this week showed the dramatic difference funding more than 13,000 community health clinics could make, as opposed to just the 665 Planned Parenthood locations; there are currently 20 comprehensive clinics where women can receive care for every one Planned Parenthood.

In 2012, Texas stopped funding abortion-providers like Planned Parenthood. Instead, in 2013 it created the Women’s Health Program, which provides low-income women with family planning services, health screenings and birth control. According to a study by George Washington University, this resulted in community clinics increasing their women’s health care services by an average of 81 percent.