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I recently contacted U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta’s office, urging Barletta to support Planned Parenthood.
Our representative sent me a polite form letter, sharing his belief “that Americans hard-earned tax dollars should not be used to subsidize abortions.” Our congressman must know that tax dollars do not subsidize abortions due to the Hyde Amendment.
He also shared his horror regarding the fetal-tissue practices of Planned Parenthood and his co-sponsorship of HR 354, which would place an immediate moratorium on all federal funding for Planned Parenthood for one year while Congress investigates the organization’s activities.
According to federal law, a woman must give written consent to donate fetal tissue, and only after she has requested an abortion. Paying for anything beyond “reasonable” costs related to obtaining fetal tissue is illegal.
Fetal tissue is being used to develop and test vaccines and treatments for HIV/AIDS, the flu, dengue fever and hepatitis B and C. Also scientists are using this tissue to understand a variety of diseases and health conditions, including vision problems, Parkinson’s disease and miscarriage. Thus, the congressman is working to prevent research that will benefit Pennsylvania’s citizens.
The bill would direct funding to federally qualified health centers, forcing thousands of women to terminate their relationship with the medical entity with whom they have developed a relationship and depended upon for years. While the congressman has “repeatedly cosponsored the Accelerating the End of Breast Cancer” bill, he wants to slam the door on research that has proven successful.
I appreciate the congressman’s concerns “as the father of four daughters,” but I strongly believe it is my right, as well as the right of all citizens, to determine where I receive healthcare from.
Heather H. Ruseskas
Plymouth