Scarlett Johansson is lending her star power to Planned Parenthood.
The actress is fighting against a bill she said will have disastrous consequences for women everywhere in need of basic but lifesaving health services.
In a YouTube video posted by Planned Parenthood on Friday, the actress urged people to sign an open letter protesting legislation voted on by Congress this year that cuts federal funding to the organization’s health centers.
"A cancer that goes undetected. A sexually transmitted disease left undetected. A woman unable to get the birth control she needs to plan her family and take control of her own destiny," Johansson said. "This is the disastrous vision of some leaders of the United States House of Representatives."
Appearing alone on camera during the minute-long PSA, Johannsen asked others to stand with her in support of Planned Parenthood, which provides birth control, cancer screenings, breast exams and STD testing for millions of women, men and teens, many of whom are uninsured.
Eliminating millions of dollars of funding to women's health centers, including Planned Parenthood, is part of the current budget debate that could lead to a government shutdown.
Planned Parenthood’s online petition, which calls the law an "outrageous assault" on millions of people in need of basic health care, has gathered 819,086 electronic signatures.
Johansson is not the only celebrity to show her support this week.
Gwyneth Paltrow posted a brief YouTube message on Wednesday that applauded Planned Parenthood for the preventative health care it provides women.
http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2011/04/08/2011-04-08_scarlett_johansson_appears_in_psa_defending_planned_parenthood.html
Federal Budget And Planned Parenthood: Fight Vs. Right
There are two issues I think about when it comes to women’s reproductive health and the federal budget showdown/shutdown of 2011: fight or right.
One is fight over Planned Parenthood. The GOP paint the 90-year-old organization as an syphon from tax payers dollars direct to abortion. PP is the nation’s largest provider of abortions.
But then I think of Roe vs. Wade of 1973, which legalized abortion in the U.S. in every state (trimester dependent).
Oh, and the law barring federal dollars from paying for it. The Hyde Amendment of 1976 nixes the use of taxpayer funds for abortion except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.
Fight. Right. Both sides seem mutually exclusive. Until the rhetoric…
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio: ”The country is broke and the vast majority of Americans don’t want tax dollars to take the life of unborn children.”
Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y.: ”It is appalling that Republicans would hold our economic recovery hostage for a ransom of denying millions of women Pap tests, breast exams, and birth control It shows their top priority is not keeping our economic recovery on track — it is reviving divisive social issues.”
Planned Parenthood’s full menu of health care services, mostly for poor and low-income women: pregnancy termination accounts for 3% of its total services last year (about 330,000) as compared to 1 million screenings for cervical cancer, 830,000 breast exams and some 4 million STD tests and treatments.
About $293 million is funneled to PP through Medicare, the joint federal-state health insurance program for the poor. It also nets about $70 million of the $317 million in Title X spending, a Nixon sign-off for family planning and related health services. The organization’s annual budget is $1.1 billion, including donations.
For the time being, here’s how federal spending goes.
PP=paltry portion (of the U.S. budget).
It may strike some readers that the high profile of PP trivializes the negotiations in Washington in a time of multiple war theaters and shameful wealth inequality.
http://blogs.forbes.com/carolinehoward/2011/04/08/planned-parenthood-abortionmakes-a-difference-in-federal-budget-exactly-how/
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