Brooklyn, N.Y. – Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke released the following statement on H.R. 3134, the Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2015, which would withdraw resources from an organization that provides critical health care services to more than three million men and women each year. H.R. 3134 passed by a vote of 241 to 187. Congresswoman Clarke voted “no.”

“This vote to defund Planned Parenthood, based on allegations unsupported by evidence, was only the continuation of efforts by Republican activists to deny women the right to choose the best health care for themselves and their families, regardless of the serious consequences that would occur. In New York State, for example, Planned Parenthood provides 36,935 screenings for cervical cancer and  49,099 for breast cancer – tests that save lives. In many parts of the United States, only Planned Parenthood accepts patients whose are insured under Medicaid.  With only twelve days until the shutdown of the federal government – which has the potential to waste billions of our dollars and delay access to Social Security benefits and services from the Veterans Administration – Republican leaders in the House of Representatives have chosen a distraction rather than the real work Americans expect us to complete.”

Congresswoman Clarke also voted “no” on H.R. 3504, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would threaten doctors and clinicians who provide abortions with criminal penalties of as much as to five years in prison. 

Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce in the House of Representatives, the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, and the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, as well as the Committee on Ethics and the Committee of Small Business proudly represents the neighborhoods of Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Gerritsen Beach, Madison, Midwood, Park Slope, Flatlands, Prospect Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Sheepshead Bay, and Windsor Terrace.