GLAD joins organizations across the country in the following letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner:

As organizations committed to ensuring that quality health care is affordable and available in communities across the country, we are writing to strongly urge you to abandon ideologically-driven efforts focused on undermining women’s access to Planned Parenthood health centers.

Planned Parenthood is the most trusted women’s health care provider in this country, and has been for nearly 100 years. There are 2.7 million women, men and young people across the country each year who depend on Planned Parenthood for basic, preventive health care — routine examinations, cancer screenings, contraceptive services, and HIV and STI testing and treatment. One in five women in America will rely on Planned Parenthood for health care in her lifetime. For many Americans, Planned Parenthood is their main health care provider.

This is just the latest political attack on women’s health – and a clear cynical and coordinated effort designed to undermine this essential health care provider. The group behind this fraud has done 10 separate attack campaigns like this over the last eight years. The real agenda here is becoming clearer every day – they want to ban abortion and to defund Planned Parenthood.

Both political organizations and members of Congress have made defunding Planned Parenthood and other women’s health care providers a top legislative priority. These false claims are being used to advance a political agenda that will cut 2.7 million people off of birth control, lifesaving cancer screenings, STD testing and treatment, and other preventive health care services.

We represent a broad range of organizations, but we are bound by a commitment to ensuring all people can access the care they need to lead healthy and productive lives. We strongly urge you to focus on issues people in America care about most, and reject these ideological attacks that aim to take health care away from millions.

Sincerely,

  1. ACCESS Women’s Health Justice
  2. Advocates for Youth
  3. AFSCME
  4. Alliance for Citizenship
  5. America Votes
  6. American Civil Liberties Union
  7. American Federation of Teachers
  8. Americans United for Separation of Church and State
  9. Astraea Lesbian Foundation For Justice
  10. Ballot Initiative Strategy Center
  11. BiNet USA
  12. Bisexual Resource Center
  13. Blueprint
  14. Bonanza Oil Co., Dallas, TX
  15. Br ache the Silence
  16. CAEAR Coalition
  17. Casa de Esperanza
  18. Catholics for Choice
  19. CCC
  20. Center for Popular Democracy
  21. Center for Reproductive Rights
  22. CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers
  23. Communications Workers of America
  24. Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals
  25. CREDO
  26. DCCC
  27. Democracy Alliance
  28. Demos
  29. EMILY’s List
  30. Freedom to Marry
  31. Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders
  32. GLAAD
  33. GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBT Equality
  34. Human Rights Campaign
  35. In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda
  36. Institute for Science and Human Values, Inc
  37. International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
  38. Intimate Health Consulting
  39. Jewish Women International
  40. Lambda Legal
  41. Latino Commission on AIDS
  42. LatinoJustice PRLDEF
  43. LPAC
  44. Make It Work Campaign
  45. MALDEF
  46. Marriage Equality USA
  47. Movement Advancement Project
  48. MoveOn.org
  49. NARAL Pro-Choice America
  50. National Abortion Federation
  51. National Action Network
  52. National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF)
  53. National Black Gay Men’s Advocacy Coalition
  54. National Black Justice Coalition
  55. National Center for Lesbian Rights
  56. National Domestic Workers Alliance
  57. National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
  58. National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund
  59. National Partnership for Women & Families
  60. National Women’s Law Center
  61. NMAC
  62. NOW
  63. People For the American Way
  64. Physicians for Reproductive Health
  65. Population Connection Action Fund
  66. Population Institute
  67. Pride at Work
  68. Reproductive Health Technologies Project
  69. Roosevelt Institute | Campus Network
  70. Service Employees International Union
  71. Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS)
  72. Sierra Club
  73. The Atlas Project
  74. The Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program
  75. Trans People of Color Coalition
  76. Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund
  77. Unitarian Universalist Association
  78. USAction
  79. Voices for Progress
  80. Voto Latino
  81. We Belong Together
  82. Women for Women
  83. Women’s Voices. Women Vote Action Fund
  84. Working Families Party
  85. ACCESS Women’s Health Justice
  86. AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts
  87. AIDS Alabama
  88. Bonanza Oil Co., Dallas, TX
  89. Cascade AIDS Project
  90. Child and Family Resources, Inc.
  91. Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund
  92. Easter Seals Blake Foundation
  93. Hyacinth AIDS Foundation
  94. Indy Feminists
  95. Lillians List of NC
  96. MassEquality
  97. Minnesota AIDS Project
  98. NARAL Pro-Choice Montana
  99. NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia
  100. New York civil liberties union
  101. North Carolina Women United
  102. One Colorado
  103. Pro-Choice Arizona
  104. Progress Missouri
  105. Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada
  106. ProgressNow Arizona
  107. ProgressNow New Mexico
  108. ProgressVA
  109. Southwest Women’s Law Center
  110. State Representative Sarah Roberts
  111. The Health Initiative
  112. Women for Women
  113. AIDS Action Baltimore
  114. Arizona Women’s Care
  115. Blue mt clinic
  116. Callen-Lorde Community Health Center
  117. Center for Community Solutions
  118. Center on Policy Initiatives
  119. Community Extension Programs, Inc.
  120. DC Abortion Fund
  121. Employee Rights Center
  122. Hudson Pride Connections Center
  123. Hyacinth AIDS Foundation
  124. JJFOTOG
  125. Kalamazoo Gay Lesbian Resource Center
  126. Kara Kushaney
  127. LGBT Network
  128. Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth
  129. Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center
  130. NET
  131. New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project
  132. NO/AIDS Task Force (d.b.a. CrescentCare)
  133. Politica NC
  134. Politica NC
  135. PPPSW
  136. PPSNJ
  137. Pride Center of Staten Island
  138. Pridelines Youth Services
  139. Private citizen
  140. Rainbow Center
  141. San Francisco AIDS Foundation
  142. The LOFT: LGBT Community Service
  143. Triangle Community Center, Inc.