Congressional Republicans took the floor last week to call for the federal defunding of Planned Parenthood because the network of reproductive health care clinics offer abortion services.

Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota called for the defunding of Planned Parenthood last

Wednesday. In a "special order" floor speech organized by Bachmann and

Chris Smith, R-N.J., Bachmann called for an end to any federal money

for the network of reproductive health care clinics because Planned

Parenthood offers abortion services.

"If you’ve got 882 clinics, you have $1 billion a year in annual

revenue, and $330 million of that comes from taxpayer funding, I think

that shows pretty clearly they are big business. They are the Wal-Mart

of big abortion. They’re the big box retailer," Bachmann told fellow

members of the House. "It is time to end their tax-exempt status. It’s

a fraud. And it’s time to stop the public financing of Planned

Parenthood. It’s the right thing to do."

Tim Stanley, executive director of Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North

Dakota, South Dakota (PPMNS) Action Fund, took issue with Bachmann’s

characterization. "Planned Parenthood does more in one day to prevent

unintended pregnancy and the need for abortion than politicians like

Michele Bachmann do in a lifetime,” said Stanley.

Indeed, Planned Parenthood offers a range of services in addition to

abortion services, including those that prevent the need for abortion:

access to birth control, emergency contraception, pregnancy options

counseling, sexuality education, and vasectomies and tubal ligations.

Those services are in addition to a range of other reproductive health

services such as screening for breast, cervical and testicular cancers;

pregnancy testing; testing and treatment for sexually transmitted

diseases; and menopause treatments.

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“In spite of what Michelle Bachmann says, Planned Parenthood served

nearly 65,000 people last year," said Stanley. "What this means is that

more Minnesotans than ever are in need of health care services, and

PPMNS is the safety net health care provider they turn to for the care

they need. Nearly 76 percent of PPMNS patients are very low-income and

likely to qualify for public insurance programs."

Those services are offered to men and women who might not otherwise

have access to or be able to afford birth control and other

reproductive health services.

Planned Parenthood’s expansion into more affluent areas is what triggered Bachmann’s heightened voice in the abortion debate.

The Wall Street Journal

reported last month that Planned Parenthood has rebranded its operation

and had opened express centers in several affluent Minneapolis-St. Paul

suburbs.

"Well, let me tell you, they’ve made a decision, Planned Parenthood,

that they are going to go after the affluent. How do I know that? It’s

happening in my district, and it was detailed in this article," said

Bachmann. "It said three express centers [opening] in wealthy Minnesota

suburbs and shopping centers and malls, places where women are already

doing their grocery shopping, picking up their Starbucks, living their

daily lives."

Bachmann continued, "Do we understand what this is? This is to promote

women, to promote that woman intentionally take the lives of their

unborn children," she said. "We are asking God-fearing Americans to

subsidize this brutal and bloody procedure on a regular business in

upscale shopping malls all across the United States."

Despite Bachmann’s assertion, the Wall Street Journal makes clear that

abortion services are not being offered in "upscale shopping malls."

The article says that the mall sites in Minnesota offer "services

limited to birth-control counseling and tests for pregnancy or sexually

transmitted infections. Most patients are in and out in less than half

an hour."