The AFA Blog

The battle is not over. Planned Parenthood and you.

This week, the Senate is expected to pass a budget and decide whether to bar all federal funding for Planned Parenthood health centers.  

Stand with Planned Parenthood now.  Dial 202-559-1164 to call your senators and tell them to vote NO on any legislation that targets Planned Parenthood and women's health.  Earlier this year, over 800,000 women and men signed an open letter to their political leaders in Washington, in an effort to protect Planned Parenthood and the multitude of Americans who depend on their centers, but the battle is not over.  Your senators need to hear from you directly right now.

Anti-choice lawmakers are dangerously close to cutting millions of women off from birth control, cancer screening, HIV testing, and other lifesaving care but you have the power to  stop them from doing that.

The clock is ticking.  Click here for more information, and to show your support.  The AFA stands with Planned Parenthood.  If you do too, please make that call.

Ken Mosesian, Executive Director

Melinda Micciola, Director of Operations

Corey Whelan, Program Director

Lisa Van Ness, Director of Development

Merry Armentrout, Communications Director

Update on the U.S. Senate and Planned Parenthood

According to a  report issued today by Naral Pro-Choice America,  the U.S. Senate has successfully rejected efforts to defund Planned Parenthood.

This significant vote, geared towards stopping the potentially catastrophic closures of the nation's family planning and health centers, has essentially toppled the House’s proposed budget bill. It is important to note that this may, however, be a temporary victory. 

In reaction to today’s events on Capitol Hill, Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, issued the following statement:

“We commend fair-minded senators for rejecting the anti-choice House leadership’s efforts to defund Planned Parenthood and dismantle the nation’s family-planning centers,” said Keenan. “Unfortunately, the Senate action coincides with a War on Women in the House that continues to escalate. This extreme and far-reaching agenda is a wake-up call to Americans, who are realizing just how much time and energy anti-choice lawmakers are willing to expend attacking a woman’s right to choose instead of focusing on the jobs agenda that they promised Americans.” 

Clearly the heros of the day are the close to 100,000 individuals who contacted their local senators in protest against this potential action against Planned Parenthood.

The U.S. Senate rejected the extreme House version of the continuing resolution (CR), legislation that defunds preventive-health services at Planned Parenthood and zeroes out Title X, the nation’s domestic family-planning program. However, women’s access to family-planning services remains in jeopardy as Congress now must compromise on a final CR that will fund the federal government through the remainder of the fiscal year.

Meanwhile, a House Ways and Means subcommittee scheduled a hearing on H.R.3, the extreme “Stupak on Steroids” legislation, for Wednesday, March 16. H.R.3 effectively blocks private insurance plans from covering abortion care in the new health-care system and imposes tax penalties on small-business owners and many other individuals who purchase private insurance plans that cover abortion care. The legislation now has 219 co-sponsors, enough votes to pass the House.

Source:  Naral Pro Choice America

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The AFA Stands With Planned Parenthood. Do You?

The American Fertility Association Stands with Planned Parenthood

U.S. House of Representatives Jeopardizes Women’s Healthcare

The U.S. House of Representatives voted Friday to bar Planned Parenthood health centers from all federal funding, including birth control, cancer screening, HIV testing and other essential care.  The American Fertility Association (The AFA), a national family building not-for-profit organization, vehemently opposes this action, which puts the health of underserved Americans, particularly women, at great risk. 

“The AFA is dedicated to helping all people build healthy families.  This biased action by the House of Representatives is clearly an orchestrated attack on those who depend on these services the most, including rape victims who have nowhere else to turn, teenaged women who have no familial support that they can count on and tens of thousands of low income families nationwide.  This large group of American citizens will now be without access to cancer screenings, STD testing or family planning support,” states Ken Mosesian, Executive Director of The AFA.

Approximately 98% of all Planned Parenthood services are for contraception, STI/STD testing, cancer testing and screening, and pregnancy, prenatal, midlife and infertility treatments for women. Approximately 2% of all services are for abortions. 

This is, by far, the most dangerous legislative assault on women's health in recent history, and it cannot go unanswered. Please join The American Fertility Association in standing with Planned Parenthood and with the millions of women, men, and teens they serve, who are now at risk of losing access to basic care.  Planned Parenthood has drafted an open letter to every single representative in the House who voted for this inexcusable bill, and to every senator who still has a chance to stop it.  Visit Planned Parenthood’s website http://www.plannedparenthood.org/ to sign the open letter, and take a stand for those most in need.  

Media Contact:

Merry Armentrout

Director of Communications, The AFA

205-470-9406 or [email protected]

About The AFA:

The American Fertility Association, a 501 (c) (3) national not-for-profit organization is a lifetime resource for infertility prevention, reproductive health and family building. The AFA's services and materials are provided free of charge to consumers and available to everyone without reservation. These services include an extensive online library, high-definition videos, telephone and in-person coaching, a resource directory, a daily blog, and a toll-free support line.

Contact us at [email protected], visit www.theafa.org or call 888.917.3777.