Tampa Bay legislators call on Congress not to defund Planned Parenthood

Nine Florida Democratic lawmakers sent a letter Monday calling on members of Congress to oppose efforts to defund Planned Parenthood.

In all, 562 state lawmakers from 50 states and the District of Columbia signed the letter a letter.

The effort was organized by the State Innovation Exchange’s Reproductive Freedom Leadership Council (SiX RFLC) and comes after anti-abortion lawmakers in Congress released a draft budget cutting off Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers from Medicaid funds.

Reps. LaVon Bracy Davis, Kevin Chambliss, Anna Eskamani, Rita Harris, Dianne Hart, and Felicia Robinson signed the letter. So did Sens. Shevrin Jones, Tina Polsky, and Darryl Rouson.

The State Innovation Exchange was founded in 2014 when the Center for State Innovation, the Progressive States Network, and the American Legislative and Issue Campaign Exchange (ALICE) merged. SiX works to promote racial, gender, social, and economic justice.

According to Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) one in three women have been to a Planned Parenthood health center for care, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. In Florida, almost 100,000 patients relied on Planned Parenthood health centers for care last year – from birth control and cancer screenings, to STI treatment and wellness visits.
“Planned Parenthood is an irreplaceable part of our health care system in Florida,” Laura Goodhue, executive director of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, said in a prepared release.

“These lawmakers understand that ‘defunding’ Planned Parenthood would shut down health centers and leave patients across our state without access to essential and affordable health care. We are proud to work alongside them to continue fighting relentlessly for access to affordable reproductive health care for all Floridians.

Indeed, Planned Parenthood officials told the Florida Phoenix earlier this month that their clinics expanded their offerings in Florida after the state’s six week abortion ban took effect on May 1, 2024.

“We’ve expanded our service line. I think it’s important for the community to know we do much more than abortion care. We do vasectomies, we do prenatal care, we do fertility care. We do menopausal care. It’s not just abortions and STDs (sexually transmitted diseases).

“But I think the community is learning that. There’s a large need for Planned Parenthood,” Cherise Felix, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of South, East, and North Florida told the Florida Phoenix.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.

Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.
 
Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | BlueSky

This article appears in May 15-21, 2025.