In an interview published by Rolling Stone on Tuesday, president of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards, fiercely promised to fight against President-elect Donald Trump’s Administration should they decide to defund Planned Parenthood, saying:
“…We will not go without a fight.”
She believes that PP has a good chance at keeping its funding and its clinics in states across the country, weathering the storm that may soon come from an entirely Republican-controlled government.
Trump’s Administration To Defund Planned Parenthood
The Trump presidency itself has railed against Planned Parenthood, with Donald Trump threatening to cut its funding in a September letter to anti-abortion activists:
“I am committed to… defunding Planned Parenthood as long as they continue to perform abortions.”
Incoming Vice President Mike Pence led the charge to cut off Planned Parenthood’s federal funding. He hoped that it would cripple the clinic’s ability to provide abortion services. He wasn’t able to cut off federal funding for abortions because that type of funding does not exist. Federal law prohibits virtually all taxpayer funding of abortion.
Yet this doesn’t stop Republican politicians from leading their constituents to believe that their tax dollars pay for abortion services.
As a House member in 2007, Pence introduced the first bill seeking to defund Planned Parenthood. While he was governor of Indiana, he reduced public health funding, crippling PP clinics and causing an HIV epidemic in rural Indiana.
Richards Says We Need To Rally Together
With leaders such as Trump and Pence, Richards believes that activists across the country will need to support one another as we go through this presidency:
“I believe there is enormous solidarity across the country. Not only among our supporters, but among other progressive organizations who are similarly facing unprecedented assaults.”
Richards plans on launching the largest “Stand with Planned Parenthood” campaign in their history this month in order to boost support across the country. They aim to show the American people what millions of people will lose in access to basic healthcare if Planned Parenthood loses federal funding.
When asked what gives her hope in this fight against the incoming administration, Richards referenced the shocking number of Trump supporters who also support PP. She believes that if Donald Trump listens to the majority of people who voted him into office, he’ll realize that many of them support Planned Parenthood.
For the sake of the health of millions of Americans, let’s hope this is the case.
Watch the video below to see Cecile Richards shut down a GOP chairman, who tries to cite fake information about Planned Parenthood.
Featured image credit: Lorie Shaull via Wikimedia Commons/CC-2.0.
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