 Dear Jim, The latest attack on Planned Parenthood was launched last week in Pennsylvania. Planned Parenthood receives millions of dollars each year in Department of Health funds to provide critical health care services for low-income women, like affordable birth control, prenatal care, cancer screenings, family planning services, and services for survivors of domestic violence. And now, in a cynical attempt to put anti-choice politics ahead of women's health, a bill has been introduced in the House to deny Planned Parenthood the funding it needs to serve women all over the state. Each year, Planned Parenthood in Pennsylvania cares for more than 120,000 people. Planned Parenthood clinics don't just provide family planning resources — they provide vital health care services to women, especially low-income women and women in rural areas who often depend exclusively on Planned Parenthood. This is not about abortion. It's about denying women access to crucial health care services. In Western Pennsylvania, for example, abortion care is available at the downtown Pittsburgh Planned Parenthood clinic — but not at six other area clinics which focus on basic health care for low-income women.1 The attacks on Planned Parenthood are part and parcel of a national extremist vendetta against the organization, and the women who depend on its clinics for basic care. Anti-choice organizations, politicians and activists are relentless, and they are conducting a state-by-state campaign to undermine Planned Parenthood in state legislatures around the country, no matter what the cost to women's health. Don't let the national campaign against Planned Parenthood take health care away from low-income Pennsylvania women. Pennsylvania's HB 2405 was introduced by State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe but it was written with the help of national anti-choice groups and is almost identical to a bill passed in Arizona, and ones being considered in Ohio, Kansas, Michigan and Oklahoma. It puts Planned Parenthood at the bottom of a prioritized list of health care providers who can receive funding. It's a clever way to cut off Planned Parenthood funding in practice, without defunding the organization by statute2. Anti-choice activists in Pennsylvania working in concert with national organizations are already pressuring their representatives in the state legislature to pass this legislation. We need to push back and make sure Republicans know that playing political games with women's health has no place in Pennsylvania. The editorial board of the Pittsburgh Gazette put it this way: Pennsylvania Republicans have a choice. They can join Mr. Metcalfe in pandering to extremists on the right — 34 members already have. Or they can ignore HB 2405 and try to re-create the Republican Party that knew how to work across party lines for the good of Pennsylvania.3 Republicans in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, even if they are anti-choice, need to hear that Pennsylvanians oppose any attempt to defund Planned Parenthood and deny vital health care — from mammograms to birth control — to the women of Pennsylvania. Every time and everywhere Planned Parenthood is attacked, we need to fight back. Please help us stop this latest effort to destroy Planned Parenthood and block women's access to health care. Thank you for standing up for Planned Parenthood and Pennsylvania women. | 
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