Tennessee Democratic Party Chair comments on Planned Parenthood Meeting

Aug 19, 2015 at 10:57 am by bryan


Tennessee Democratic Party Chair Mary Mancini released the following statement on today's planned meeting on Planned Parenthood:

"Tennessee Republican legislators are falling in lock step behind Diane Black and the Republican National Committee and publicly showcasing how they'd rather follow their leaders in Washington instead of working to address the very real problems that face Tennesseans today.

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Here's the reality: 280,000 hardworking men and women across the state still don't have access to affordable healthcare because Republicans failed to pass Insure TN; Hundreds of corrections officers are being overworked and underpaid while Governor Haslam's Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) appointee says 'no problems here;' Thousands of maintenance and operations workers are about to lose their jobs so that politically connected corporations can line their pocket with state contracts; and hardworking Tennesseans still can't make a decent living because the Republicans won't raise the minimum wage. Yet these same Republican legislators want to waste time and taxpayer money looking for a problem that doesn't exist in Tennessee to score political points like Diane Black, John Boehner and Mitch McConnell?

Republicans already know that Planned Parenthood follows state law and does not participate in any tissue donation programs. They already know - because Governor Haslam told them - that 'the state doesn't contract directly with Planned Parenthood for any health services' but that they do 'subcontract with three state vendors to provide contraceptive services and HIV testing.' They already know that Planned Parenthood in Tennessee provides access to high-quality, affordable health care, including life-saving cancer screenings, testing for sexually transmitted infections, and access to birth control for thousands of men and women across the state.

They already have all the facts and yet here they are, doing the bidding of the RNC and using this witch hunt as a distraction, hoping that Tennesseans will forget about not being able to take their kid to the doctor when they're sick or having to work 2 or 3 jobs just to make ends meet. It's shameful and callous and typical."

Source:

Tennessee Democratic Party

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