Lowey Celebrates Planned Parenthood Victory

A week ago U.S. Congresswoman Nita Lowey was on the House floor in Washington D.C. fighting funding cuts, which would have forced Planned Parenthood to eliminate services they provide  to 15,000 people in Westchester and individuals across the nation.

Though some cuts went through—Lowey and others celebrated Planned Parenthood’s escape from eradication, at their clinic in the White Plains part of Greenburgh Thursday.

"I'm very pleased that we were successful in protecting many of our priorities," said Lowey, at the press conference.  "Instead of facing elimination, Title X family planning will receive $300 million.”

Lowey, the 18-year representative of New York's 18th district, is recognized as one of Congress' most passionate defenders of women's health. While in Washington—Lowey and the rest of the House of Representatives voted in favor of the proposed 2011 budget for Planned Parenthood.

Despite a reduction of $17 million, she was one of the 241 members of congress who supported the bill.

“I'm proud that there is a bi-partisan effort because there should be a bi-partisan effort to get this done,” said Lowey. “Not only will this help more than five million women, it is fiscally responsible—as we know that every dollar invested in family planning saves nearly four dollars in future Medicaid costs."

Had federal funding been completely cut off—Reina Schiffrin, the President/CEO of Planned Parenthood Hudson, feared what alternatives the nearly 15,000 in Westchester County who use the clinic would have.

"Three quarters of our clients have incomes at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level," said Schiffrin, at the event. "Without the federal funding… the patients who count on Planned Parenthood for care, here in White Plains and around the country, would not be able to access birth control, life-saving cancer screenings and treatments for sexually transmitted infections."

Lowey expressed disappointment in media members and politicians who solely fixated their anti-Planned Parenthood arguments around abortion and the amount of mis-information surrounding such arguments.

"There are too many people out there who just follow the lie," said Lowey, who also referred to the attacks as "mean-spirited" and "pathetic."

"Congress banned federal funding for abortions more than 30 years ago," said Schiffrin.

One of those lies, according to Lowey and Schiffrin, is that abortions are federally funded and make up a majority of Planned Parenthood's budget. U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) recently made waves after stating, inaccurately, that 90 percent of Planned Parenthood's funds go toward abortions—the actual number is 3 percent.   

According to the Huffington Post, a representative from Kyl’s office said his statement made before Congress was “not meant to be a factual statement.” 

"Yet under the guise of eliminating federal funding for abortion, this House leadership attempted to dismantle Planned Parenthood," said Schiffrin. "For good reason, smart policymakers and the majority of the American public, rejected this purely political move… The debate also showed that elected officials with an extreme political agenda, like Senator Kyl, can't get away with twisting facts at their convenience"

The majority of services covered under the family planning budget are pap tests, breast exams, routine gynecological exams, vaccinations for sexually transmitted infections, smoking cessations, cholesterol screenings, HIV counseling and testing, distributing contraceptives and pregnancy tests, among other services.

While Lowey was ultimately grateful for the $300 million budget for 2011, she knows the fight surrounding it is far from over. She recently spoke with a number of students at Purchase College Wednesday, urging them to become more active in voting.

"You think we've settled this once and for all? It keeps coming up again and again and again," said Lowey. "And I'm hoping that we can continue to educate so we don't continue to have a battle royal every time this issue comes up."