House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday that the Republican effort to defund Planned Parenthood is an attack on family planning.
“The best way to respect a woman’s decision-making for the size and timing of her family is to respect her access to family planning,” Pelosi told reporters on Thursday. “I respect people’s views on the subject but I cannot understand why, if you view abortion negatively as we all do, you don’t understand family planning.”
The House this week will vote on two measures aimed at undercutting Planned Parenthood. One bill would block taxpayer funding while the group is investigated further, and another would aim to boost protections for babies born alive during an abortion. The House has already passed a measure banning most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Pelosi criticized the move by the GOP to strip money from Planned Parenthood, despite undercover videos showing organization officials appearing to discuss the sale of body parts.
She said Democrats could sustain a presidential veto of any bill that defunds the organization. In California, Pelosi said, some healthcare centers say they could not handle the overflow of patients if Planned Parenthood affiliates were to close due to a lack of money.
The organization receives about half a billion dollars in federal funding, although just a fraction of that is appropriated by Congress. The rest comes from contributions made to Medicaid and is protected from GOP targeting.
Pelosi said Republicans have been trying to close Planned Parenthood for years and that their true goal is to interfere with efforts to plan families and subsequently close down the government, because President Obama will not sign a bill strips out funding.
