WISCONSIN

Hundreds gather to back Planned Parenthood, slam Paul Ryan

Maggie Angst
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Hundreds of people jammed the ballroom at the Hilton City Center to attend a rally to stand with Planned Parenthood. House speaker Paul Ryan has made it clear that he wants to defund the organization which provides family planning and healthcare needs to thousands of women throughout Wisconsin. Among the guests attending were Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Tanya Atkinson, President of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin, Congresswoman Gwen Moore State Senator LaTonya Johnson

For state Sen. LaTonya Johnson, going to Planned Parenthood at the age of 14 allowed her to break a family cycle of teenage pregnancies and become a first-generation college graduate and elected official.

For Sydney Rosengarten, 20, a nursing student at University of Wisconsin-Madison, Planned Parenthood made her feel comfortable while choosing the birth control that was right for her.

And for Gina Walkington, 31, of Bristol,  the testing she had done at Planned Parenthood caught precancerous cells in her cervix before they spread and is the reason she has three beautiful boys today, she said.

The three were among about 700 Planned Parenthood supporters crammed into a ballroom in the Hilton City Center on Saturday.

Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, addressed what she considers misconceptions about the organization.

"Federal funding does not go to Planned Parenthood for abortion services. That's prohibited by law, and we operate just like any other hospital and health care provider," Richards said.

Instead, federal funding helps provide birth control, cancer screenings and STD and HIV testing coverage for 2.5 million patients nationwide, she said.

"Some of us are struggling financially, some of us feel more comfortable with Planned Parenthood's non-judgmental and compassionate care and some of us have nowhere else to go," Rosengarten said. "Patients like me don't go to Planned Parenthood to make a political statement, we go for the affordable, high quality care...We cannot let politicians take that away."

The specific politician they targeted: Paul Ryan of Janesville.

A recently leaked draft House Republican repeal bill that would dismantle the Affordable Care Act includes a provision to defund Planned Parenthood.

In a CNN town hall earlier this month, Ryan said federally qualified community health centers, which deliver care to the nation’s most vulnerable people such as veterans, homeless people and residents of public housing, outnumber Planned Parenthood clinics and therefore can absorb all of the patients. But according to Richards, community health centers have been very clear that they cannot take all the patients that Planned Parenthood sees.

In Racine and Walworth counties, where 42% of the women in Ryan’s district live, there are two Planned Parenthood health centers and no community health centers, according to Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. So Richards, speaking in Ryan's home state Saturday, said she has one message him: "Come home and listen to the women in your district."

Ryan's office countered Saturday evening that there are more than twice as many community health centers as Planned Parenthood offices in Wisconsin.

"Our goal is making sure women get the kind of care they need and we believe that can best be achieved by putting money into community health centers, which provide similar services as Planned Parenthood but vastly outnumber them,” said AshLee Strong, Ryan spokeswoman.