{"id":24097,"date":"2016-01-20T09:35:37","date_gmt":"2016-01-20T15:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=24097"},"modified":"2016-01-20T09:35:37","modified_gmt":"2016-01-20T15:35:37","slug":"abortion-advocates-react-to-bill-to-defund-planned-parenthood-express-concerns-for-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/abortion-advocates-react-to-bill-to-defund-planned-parenthood-express-concerns-for-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Abortion advocates react to bill to defund Planned Parenthood, express concerns for future"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Enrica Nicoli Aldini<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"dropcap\">Advocates for women\u2019s reproductive freedom welcomed President Barack Obama\u2019s veto last week on a House of Representatives bill that would repeal the Affordable Care Act and suspend federal funding to Planned Parenthood. But the veto is hardly enough to provide a respite in the fight for women\u2019s reproductive rights, according to some abortion activists in Illinois.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were very pleased with the presidential veto,\u201d said Brigid Leahy, director of government relations at Planned Parenthood Illinois Action, the health organization\u2019s political arm in Illinois. \u201cThe federal funds provide a wide range of prevention services for millions of men and women, and it is very important that the president vetoed the legislation so that we can keep using the federal funds to guarantee access to those services.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But, Leahy said, as the nation prepares to elect a new president \u201cthings could still change at the federal as well as the state level.\u201d She said an unprecedented number of attacks on Planned Parenthood in Congress have created a climate where women\u2019s health is under siege. Women in many states have to travel miles, sometimes crossing state borders, to reach the nearest abortion provider.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not only a matter of one individual law,\u201d Leahy said, \u201cbut many state laws that layer upon each other.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leahy said Illinois is somewhat of a haven in that regard. \u201cThankfully, Illinois is an oasis in the Midwest for women,\u201d she said. \u201cMost of the bad things we\u2019ve been able to defeat, and women come here from other states.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Andrea Friedman, abortion rights activist and board member of Personal PAC, an Illinois-based nonpartisan committee for reproductive rights, also shifted the focus from a federal to a state level.<\/p>\n<p>Describing the House 240-181 majority that passed the bill, which would have defunded Planned Parenthood as \u201cshow-votes to appeal to a small group of voters,\u201d Friedman said that \u201cthe real fight and where we need to focus our attention is in the states. That is where anti-choice legislators are passing law after law under the guise of \u2018protecting women\u2019 when it is clear that their true purpose is to take away access to abortion by any means available to them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Friedman pointed to the personal nature of the choice for abortion, saying women should be able to make this decision without political interference. \u201cAnti-choice legislators are out of touch with the majority of Americans,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Benjamin Head, political director for Schakowsky for Congress, echoed her words. \u201cEveryone who believes in a woman&#8217;s right to make her own decisions about her body needs to stay loudly, proudly, and vigilantly pro-choice,\u201d he said. U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky is one of the strongest advocates for women\u2019s rights in Congress and was recently named the democratic ranking member in a select committee to investigate Planned Parenthood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe anti-choice lobby failed to deny basic rights to American women in this particular case: but unfortunately, the fight for reproductive rights is an ongoing one,\u201d Head said. \u201cRepublicans will continue attacking women&#8217;s health care and reproductive freedom, and if we don&#8217;t stop them, they will win.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leahy said Planned Parenthood Illinois Action is \u201cexcited\u201d about Planned Parenthood\u2019s recent endorsement of Hillary Clinton. \u201cShe has an excellent record of supporting women. Not only has she tried to move us forward by defending our rights, but she also tried to expand them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, following requests from Republican representatives, the House will consider whether to override the veto on Jan. 26, just four days after the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<div class=\"featurecaption\">Abortion activists demonstrate for women&#8217;s rights at a pro-choice march on Feb. 17 at Federal Plaza. (Enrica Nicoli Aldini\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Enrica Nicoli Aldini Advocates for women\u2019s reproductive freedom welcomed President Barack Obama\u2019s veto last week on a House of Representatives bill that would repeal the Affordable Care Act and suspend federal funding to Planned Parenthood. But the veto is hardly enough to provide a respite in the fight for women\u2019s reproductive rights, according to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":195,"featured_media":24374,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,675,585],"tags":[703,706,625,705,704],"class_list":["post-24097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-public-affairs","category-social-justice","category-winter-2016","tag-abortion","tag-planned-parenthood","tag-social-justice","tag-womens-health","tag-womens-rights"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Abortion advocates react to bill to defund Planned Parenthood, express concerns for future - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/abortion-advocates-react-to-bill-to-defund-planned-parenthood-express-concerns-for-future\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Abortion advocates react to bill to defund Planned Parenthood, express concerns for future - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Enrica Nicoli Aldini Advocates for women\u2019s reproductive freedom welcomed President Barack Obama\u2019s veto last week on a House of Representatives bill that would repeal the Affordable Care Act and suspend federal funding to Planned Parenthood. 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