Speaker Ryan Proposes to End Funding for Planned Parenthood Health Services, Leaving Millions Without Health Care

Washington, DC – Today, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) announced plans to end funding for patients accessing high quality preventive and essential care like cancer screenings and birth control at Planned Parenthood health centers in Wisconsin and across the country, putting tens of thousands of low-income women and families in Wisconsin at risk of losing their only source of available health care. If passed, the proposal would devastate the majority of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin’s (PPWI) 60,000 patients’ ability to access needed health care.

Statement from Tanya Atkinson, incoming President and CEO of PPWI:

“Whether your first birth control experience, cancer screen, or STD test was at Planned Parenthood or not, we can agree that all people deserve access to high quality, nonjudgmental reproductive health care.

“For 80 years, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin has been there for women and families during some of the most important and intimate moments of their lives.  One in five women has trusted Planned Parenthood for honest sex education, breast and cervical cancer screenings, expert, personalized birth control, well woman check-ups, STD testing and treatment and health care referrals for prenatal care, adoption, and cancer treatment. For the majority of our patients, Planned Parenthood is their only health care provider and in half of the counties PPWI serves patients will have no alternative provider to turn to if PPWI closes.

“Here at Planned Parenthood, our patients don’t come to us to make a political statement—they come because we provide the high quality, compassionate and affordable health care that they need. Deciding to start a family, delay becoming a parent or ending a pregnancy are some of the most personal decisions a woman could make. We believe strongly that a woman should be able to make that decision without political interference.

“Planned Parenthood is committed to ensuring all people of Wisconsin have access to the health care they deserve, no matter their income, ethnicity, sexual identity, or immigration status. Throughout our 80 year history, nothing has ever overcome our commitment to providing high-quality, affordable health care to all people who need it.  Now that Speaker Ryan’s plan is clear, Planned Parenthood, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin, the one in five women who have come to Planned Parenthood, the entire public health establishment and the hundreds of thousands Planned Parenthood supporters in Wisconsin are ready to defend care with everything we’ve got. With the public’s continued support, Planned Parenthood’s doors will stay open.”

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin is a nonprofit health care provider caring for 60,000 patients annually at 21 health centers. 97 percent of Planned Parenthood’s care is preventive health services including well woman exams, breast and cervical cancer screenings, birth control, HIV screening, and STD treatment.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.