In the clownshow that is the House Republican Planned Parenthood hearing, Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) shamed Republicans by pointing out that without Planned Parenthood abortion rates would rise approx 40%.
This claim is backed up by actual research, rather than a bunch of hyperbole and hysteria. Public Health Watch pointed out that 40% of unintended pregnancies result in abortion: “Defunding Planned Parenthood wouldn’t just limit women’s access to preventive health care like cancer screenings, well-woman exams, and STI testing and treatment; it would also prevent millions of women from accessing contraception that prevents unintended pregnancies, 40% of which end in abortion.”
This fact bomb came as one of the few moments of sanity in what is an ongoing display of misogyny, ignorance and an epic waste of taxpayer funds as Republicans are campaigning by seeing who can be the rudest to Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards. It’s important because Planned Parenthood is actually the best way to reduce the abortion rate, for what should be obvious reasons. Access to affordable birth control and family planning helps people avoid unintended pregnancy.
But in case logic is not enough, the nonpartisan CBO has found that defunding Planned Parenthood would likely result in more unintended pregnancies. Planned Parenthood says their work resulted in the prevention of approximately 516,000 unintended pregnancies.
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Vox debunked the idea that women would just go somewhere else to get services and therefore, yes, unintended pregnancies would likely increase:
But a Vox review of academic research, recent Planned Parenthood closures in Texas, and interviews with half a dozen health policy experts suggests the opposite. Historically, researchers have found that when Planned Parenthood clinics close, other clinics do not step up to fill the gap. Meanwhile, when there are fewer reproductive health clinics available, women get less reproductive health care — from birth control to cancer screenings to STD testing and treatment. Unintended pregnancies would likely increase, too.
So this hearing is based on videos that have no evidentiary value due to manipulation/deceptive editing including 42 splices. Republicans did not request access to the edit suite computers used to edit the videos when they were told they couldn’t have access to the raw footage, so the hearing is all about campaigning.
Republicans are wasting taxpayer money in order to campaign based on a hearing that has no value. Investigating videos when you don’t have the footage is beyond ridiculous.
Republicans are wasting taxpayer money in order to increase the abortion rate.
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