A NEW LOW FOR ANTI-CHOICE LEADERS IN CONGRESS

New legislation would take away the health benefits women have today. It attempts to ban private health insurance for abortion even in many cases of rape and when the woman’s life is in danger.

They’ve gone too far. Tell Congress to reject the anti-choice Smith bill.

 http://www.ppaction.org/site/R?i=8qsoOaW_zYiNkfFrYCUrCw..

H.R. 3 simply goes too far. The restrictions contained in this bill represent an unprecedented effort to deny women the right to make their own personal and private medical decisions and to purchase the health care coverage they want.

 Supporters:

  “This is a reckless effort to cripple an irreplaceable organization out of pure politics.”

That’s what The New York Times wrote yesterday about extreme anti-choice legislation recently introduced in Congress that would strip Planned Parenthood of funds to provide preventive care — birth control and family planning — to millions of women. More people are recognizing the truth about what we’ve been saying for months: anti-choice attacks on women’s health and Planned Parenthood itself are escalating, and our opponents want nothing less than to eliminate Planned Parenthood and with it a source of care for millions of women.

The new anti-choice leadership in the House presents a real danger to the future of women’s health in America. The first step to stopping them is to speak out. Tell Congress to reject the anti-choice Smith bill.

Representative Smith (R-NJ) introduced a bill that attempts to ban private insurance coverage for abortion for millions of women — even for women who have such coverage today. It goes so far as to raise taxes for individuals and small businesses that purchase health insurance coverage for abortion with their own money. And it gets worse.

Heartlessly, the Smith bill would even prevent many rape survivors from getting the care they need. If this bill passes, only rape survivors who become pregnant through “forcible rape” will be allowed federal financing of abortion. This means women who are drugged, unconscious, coerced — or whatever else state lawmakers decide does not constitute “forcible rape” — could be excluded from the abortion coverage they need. Read that again, because it is truly shocking. The sponsors of this bill want to ban federal funding for abortion in cases of rape they deem not “forcible.”

This bill would reverse existing protections that guarantee millions of women access to abortion coverage when their life is in danger. And if that is not enough, it expands restrictions on abortion funding and makes them permanent. To protect access to abortion, we must stop this bill.

I can’t express how unjust, and how cruel, this legislation truly is. Rep. Smith and his extreme anti-choice colleagues have taken their campaign against women’s health and rights to a new low, and they must be stopped. Do your part now. Tell Congress to reject this attack on women’s health. Click here to take action.

It is unconscionable for anti-choice politicians who were elected on a promise to fix the economy to use their newly found power to deny women access to reproductive health care, including abortion. But that’s exactly what they are trying to do.

Our opponents want to shut down local Planned Parenthood health centers and deny women access to basic preventive health care like birth control and family planning. They want to take away women’s right to make their own personal and private medical decisions. The members of the new House majority have proven that there is no limit to how far they will go in their assault on women’s health and rights.

We have to stand against them. You and I and everyone who cares about women’s health, we must speak out together. Please, take action now — and then tell you friends, your family, and your co-workers to join you.

Thank you so very much for standing with us and the women, men, and teens that rely on Planned Parenthood.

 Sincerely,

Cecile Richards, President