Stopping Planned Parenthood’s Appalling Activity

Phil Roe

By U. S. Congressman Phil Roe - Since mid-July, several videos have been released showing Planned Parenthood executives discussing the organization’s most gruesome practices. I was saddened, sickened and appalled at how a fellow physician could casually discuss the dismemberment of babies for their body parts. As an OB-GYN who delivered nearly 5,000 babies and spent countless hours in the delivery room, I can’t begin to imagine how someone could watch a newborn deliver and not try everything in their power to keep that baby alive. That is certainly not health care.

What we have witnessed isn’t about being pro-life or pro-choice, though I am proud to say I will always be a defender of the right to life. This debate is about the despicable actions of an organization that receives about $500 million in government funding each year and the very serious allegations that some babies who survive abortion procedures are denied emergency medical care. Immediately after the first videos were released, I called on Congress to defund Planned Parenthood while congressional investigators looked into these claims.

I was proud to vote for two important bills that would protect newborn babies and defund Planned Parenthood. The first was H.R. 3504, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would provide legal protections to infants that survive an abortion. I spoke on the House floor in support of this bill, and you can find that video on my YouTube page. I’ve spent my life caring for patients, so this is an emotional issue for me. I fully believe in those sacred words that state all humans are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, the very first of these being life.

Next, I voted for H.R. 3134, the Defund Planned Parenthood Act. H.R. 3134 would immediately ban all federal funding of Planned Parenthood for one year while Congress investigates the videos released this summer. I was proud to speak on the House floor in support of this bill as well, and that video is also on my YouTube page.

I was extremely disappointed to see Senate Democrats reject a plan that would fully fund the government through December while defunding Planned Parenthood. The plan would redirect roughly $235 million from Planned Parenthood to community health centers. Senate Democrats’ rejection of this commonsense proposal proves they are not interested in finding common ground and that this is not an issue of access to health care for them.

You can rest assured I will continue to support policies that will hold Planned Parenthood accountable.

Top Stories