The purpose of House Bill 2251 is to fully defund healthcare providers that offer LEGAL abortion services. The most notable of these healthcare providers is Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood allows women to do just that- PLAN their parenthood, so women can go to school and start careers, and only have children if and when they CHOOSE to. Planned Parenthood offers LEGAL abortion services. They also supply birth control, STD testing, breast cancer screenings, pap smears, hormone therapy, pregnancy testing, general healthcare, men's health services, and education on sexual and reproductive health. These services are often provided at reduced or no cost to the individuals receiving them.

All people need access to affordable healthcare. Affordable anything is something that our country is sorely lacking. Thanks to places like Planned Parenthood, lives are saved every day. Strong-arming healthcare providers into ending specific services via ending all funding to providers that provide these services will harm more men and women than it helps.

Women that are aware enough that they are not ready for a child should not be forced into raising a child. The men that helped create these children will also be forced to pay money for children that they didn't want either through child support. How does this help anyone?

Additionally, it is morally wrong to deny an entire populace necessary reproductive healthcare, cancer screening, and valid medical procedures. This type of law undeniably targets a specific demographic: the poor. Laws such as this force the poor and "low class" to remain there. How can we function as a world power and a role model for the world if we are unwilling to help our most needy?

The following comes from the Planned Parenthood site:



"At least 60% of Planned Parenthood patients rely on public health programs like Medicaid and Title X for their preventive and primary care. So, when you hear extreme politicians talking about “defunding” Planned Parenthood, they really mean blocking patients who rely on public health care programs from getting their care at Planned Parenthood centers...

To really understand what federal funds pay for at Planned Parenthood, you first need to know that federal tax dollars don’t pay for abortions. A decades-old, unfair law already prohibits that (except in cases of rape, incest, or when a woman’s life is in danger).

Again, most federal funding comes to Planned Parenthood in the form of reimbursements through Medicaid, the government-funded health insurance plan for people with low incomes.

Just like other kinds of health insurance, Medicaid reimburses Planned Parenthood’s doctors and nurses for the preventive medical services they provide, including life-saving cancer screenings, HIV testing, and birth control. There are no special favors here.

The majority of federal funds come through Planned Parenthood health centers via reimbursements for the medical services that they provide to patients who either have Medicaid coverage or qualify for other publicly funded health care programs (like Title X).

Planned Parenthood’s health centers also get federal funds for delivering vital services through Title X, the nation’s family planning program — funds that can only be used to support family planning health care.

Planned Parenthood serves 1.5 million of Title X’s over 4 million patients each year, helping people who often don’t have access to family planning care anywhere else. Without Planned Parenthood, many of these patients wouldn’t get the health care they need to take control of their lives."

Tennessee lawmakers have the power to say no to this unjust and unconstitutional blackmail scheme parading as legislation! Speak up and tell them not to forget the 15.8% of Tennesseans living in poverty who need access to the affordable healthcare organizations like Planned Parenthood!

HANDS OFF OUR HEALTHCARE, HANDS OFF OUR BODIES, HANDS OFF OUR RIGHTS! SAY NO TO House Bill 2251!