Senators Celebrate Planned Parenthood’s First 100 Years

Wyden and 18 Democratic senators introduce resolution to recognize Planned Parenthood’s groundbreaking contributions to women’s health and rights; Push for continued funding for Planned Parenthood

Washington, D.C. – Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today led 18 of his Senate colleagues in introducing a resolution to recognize the importance of Planned Parenthood’s contributions to women’s health care and reproductive rights in America over the last 100 years.

Planned Parenthood will celebrate 100 years of providing care and information to millions of women about their reproductive health on October 16. The organization today provides a wide array of reproductive health services, including prevention and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, abortion care, cancer screenings, exams, birth control and prenatal care. Over the last decade, Planned Parenthood has also doubled the number of health services its doctors and nurses provide to men.

Wyden also stressed the importance of continued federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

“From Portland, Oregon, to Portland, Maine, this country is healthier because of Planned Parenthood,” Wyden said. “My Democratic colleagues and I are going to keep working to make sure this bedrock health provider can keep serving people for the next 100 years.”

Planned Parenthood is also the largest sex education provider in America, offering informational programs to 1.5 million people in schools and community centers across the country.

The resolution would formally recognize that Planned Parenthood has made groundbreaking contributions to women’s health and reproductive rights over its 100 year history.

Specifically, the resolution would express the Senate’s view that Planned Parenthood is a safety net provider that reaches medically underserved people, should not be defunded or attacked for its role as a critical women’s health provider, and that Planned Parenthood “remains a critical thread in the fabric of our society.”

The resolution’s cosponsors include: Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, Al Franken, D-Minn., Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

Read the full text of the resolution here.

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