New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I-N.Y.) and Governors Peter Shumlin (D-Ver.) and Dan Malloy (D-Conn.), stood in strong opposition to House Republicans’ plan to cut funding and access to women’s health care and reproductive services.
The House Appropriations Committee’s Fiscal Year 2011 resolution would eliminate completely the National Family Planning Program, consequently denying preventive care to five million women nationwide. Furthermore, the House has passed Rep. Mike Pence’s (R-Ind.) amendment, which prohibits Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funding.
All three politicians dismissed the House Republicans’ initiative as “politics, not policy,” and detrimental to deficit reduction as well as women’s health.
Gov. Shumlin noted that in largely rural states such as Vermont, Planned Parenthood is, for many, the only accessible source for women’s health care. In urban areas like New York City, some 800,000 women rely on the resource due to their income levels, added Mayor Bloomberg.