Kathy Castor: “We were hired by our neighbors in our hometowns to come up to Washington and fight for jobs and help get the country…”

“We were hired by our neighbors in our hometowns to come up to Washington and fight for jobs and help get the country back on the road to recovery. But instead, this Republican Congress is taking an extreme right turn right back into the dark ages because they are targeting a very important initiative that has provided fundamental health services to women since 1970 to say no more will women that depend on family planning in the United States of America have that lifeline any longer--that lifeline for breast cancer screenings, cervical cancer screenings, the annual Pap smear, for contraceptives. We can't go back to the dark ages--and we're not going to let you. As often as it has been misstated on this floor tonight, none of the money for family planning goes to pay for abortions. This is their false battle cry. In effect, what they're doing is they want to cut off the lifeline for mothers and daughters, aunts, your friends, your neighbors who sometimes don't have a place to go to afford that important doctor's visit. There seems to be little if any empathy for these women from the Republican side of the aisle, as they propose no alternative for providing this care, and they don't seem to realize or, frankly, care that unintended pregnancies will rise if this program is abolished. Cutting off these funds and eliminating this care for women will not stop abortion, which is their claim. Only family planning will stop abortion.”