Mike Pence debunks Planned Parenthood propaganda

This just in from the office of Rep. Mike Pence, who's been leading the fight to keep our tax dollars from flowing to the billion-dollar "nonprofit" business that does a third of a million abortions annually--Planned Parenthood:

Planned Parenthood continues to use distortions and misleading statistics in a press release this morning in response to Congressman Pence’s comments on ABC’s This Week yesterday.

Please see below myth vs. fact on Planned Parenthood’s claims:

• Planned Parenthood Myth: “Having failed for now to eliminate breast exams, cancer screenings and birth control that millions of American women count on, Representative Mike Pence continues his misleading and outrageous attacks on Planned Parenthood and the preventive health care our doctors and nurses provide.”

• Fact:  Congressman Pence’s amendment does not reduce funding for cancer screenings or eliminate one dime of funding for other important health services to women; the money that does not go to Planned Parenthood as a result of the Pence Amendment will go to other organizations that provide these services. If the Pence Amendment becomes law, approximately 8,000 health centers, clinics, and hospitals across the country will still provide assistance to low-income families and women. The Pence Amendment would simply deny any and all federal funding to Planned Parenthood. 

• Planned Parenthood Myth: “The fact is more than 90 percent of the health care Planned Parenthood provides is basic and preventive. Representative Pence’s proposals would bar Planned Parenthood from delivering care through federal programs like Medicaid that help millions of women access birth control, lifesaving cancer screenings, immunizations, HIV testing, and testing and treatment for other STIs.” 

• Fact: In 2009, Planned Parenthood made only 977 adoption referrals and cared for only 7,021 prenatal clients, but performed a record 332,278 abortions (see attachment). In other words, a pregnant woman entering a Planned Parenthood clinic was 42 times more likely to have an abortion than to either receive prenatal care or be referred for adoption. Planned Parenthood recently made plain the centrality of abortion to its mission by mandating that every one of its affiliates have at least one clinic that performs abortions within the next two years.

• Planned Parenthood Myth:  “At a time when the nation begs our leaders to keep focused on the economy and jobs, Representative Pence and House Republican leaders have made it clear that they simply don’t care about the health and safety of American women.”

• Fact:  Congressman Pence has never advocated cutting funding for Title X.  The issue here is Planned Parenthood routinely putting profits over women’s health and safety. When women testify in favor of tightening safety standards at clinics, Planned Parenthood fights them. And despite the fact that 88 percent of Americans favor informed-consent laws that provide information about the risks of, and alternatives to, abortion for women, Planned Parenthood opposes these efforts and works to keep women in the dark. And tragically, in some instances, Planned Parenthood has refused to cooperate when law-enforcement officials have sought information to help girls they believed to be victims of child rape or molestation.