Consider this for a moment: House Republicans would rather cut off a woman's access to birth control, cancer screenings, and other preventative care from Planned Parenthood than continue to fund and operate the federal government.
While Planned Parenthood provides abortions at some of their clinics, it also provides healthcare services for poor women, including checkups, mammograms, cervical cancer screenings and contraceptives.
Planned Parenthood has been there for thousands of Maine people. From cancer screenings to crucial reproductive care, there are countless families that rely on their support and care.
I think it's important for women to have a means to get health care. I think it's important that women have a place to go to get Pap smears and cancer screenings. And it shouldn't be considered extra. It shouldn't be considered something that can be "cut." It shouldn't be something that's in danger of going away. The idea that we're even thinking about cutting that off because somebody else isn't enjoying it themselves or somebody has extreme opinions about it is worrisome to me.
So many states are putting very stringent regulations on women that block them from exercising that choice to the extent that they are defunding Planned Parenthood, which, of course, provides all kinds of cancer screenings and other benefits for women in our country.
We've also seen another future we could choose. First of all, we'd have the right to choose. It's an America in which no one can charge us more than men for the exact same health insurance; in which no one can deny us affordable access to the cancer screenings that could save our lives; in which we decide when to start our families.
More than 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does nationally is preventive care - including cervical cancer screenings, breast cancer screenings, and family planning - mostly for women with low resources and income below the poverty line.
So many state Republican governors and legislators are defunding Planned Parenthood and shutting down clinics that not only provide a safe abortion but HIV testing, cancer screenings, and so much else that women have every right to access, which is harder if you are unemployed or you are a low-income woman that's part of the real service that Planned Parenthood provides.
