Defund Planned Parenthood Vote Today
Pro-Choice Community Fights Back
Posted August 3, 2015 06:32 am | Public News Service
TALLAHASSEE,
FL - The U.S. Senate will vote today on cutting $500
million in federal funding for Planned Parenthood - so
Florida's pro-choice community is making its opposition
known.
The vote follows the release of controversial videos showing Planned Parenthood representatives discussing the cost of fetal tissue donations to be used for scientific research.
Gov. Rick Scott has called for state inspections of local clinics.
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But Laura Goodhue, executive director of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, says Florida clinics do not participate in tissue donation programs.
"We're fighting back hard and calling this latest attack
campaign what it is, part of a decade-long campaign of
deceiving the public, making false charges and
terrorizing women and their doctors, all in order to ban
abortion and cut women off from care at Planned
Parenthood," she points out.
Anti-abortion groups have scored some recent successes
in Florida. A law requiring a 24-hour waiting period
went into effect July 1.
Julia Dawson, an organizer with the Miami Clinic Access
Project, says Florida has very strict parental
notification rules.
"They have succeeded in making it more difficult for
minors to obtain a court bypass if a minor cannot tell
their parents because their parents are likely to throw
them out of the house," she explains.
Planned Parenthood says the lion's share of its work
does not involve abortion and it does not use federal
funds for the procedure.
Nonetheless, Sen. Marco Rubio has indicated he will vote
to defund the organization.
More than a dozen Florida organizations have signed a
letter defending Planned Parenthood, including the
League of Women Voters, Progress Florida and the ACLU.
Photos/graphics and links added by the Observer
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