Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Ocala (Pic via stearns.house.gov)
An attorney for the group partially responsible for a recent congressional investigation into Planned Parenthood says the group has targeted the chain of health clinics as part of a strategy to end abortion.
Kellie Fiedorek, a staff attorney for Americans United for Life, tells The Florida Independent the group is pleased that a report she helped craft about Planned Parenthood has led to congressional action. The report was given to members of Congress in the hopes that lawmakers vote to defund Planned Parenthood.Ā Fiedorek says Americans United sought to ādocument fraud and abuseā in Planned Parenthood as a tool for Congress to look into a possible investigation.
Planned Parenthood is frequently under attack by anti-abortion groups because some of the clinics provide legal abortions. Planned Parenthood has called Americans Unitedās report āideologically driven.āĀ The group has also said that many of the claims are either misleading or inaccurate.
Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Ocala, who chairs a subcommittee on oversight and investigations, recently followed through with Americans Unitedās request and launched an investigation into Planned Parenthoodās finances and policies.
Womenās health advocates and members of Congress are condemning his actions.Ā This week, Democratic National Committee chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz āaccused Republican colleagues on Wednesday of launching a āburdensome and politically motivated, big-government investigationā of Planned Parenthood.ā Reps. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., a ranking member of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, and Henry Waxman, D-Calif., have stated that the investigation is part of a āRepublican vendetta.ā
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., issued a press release calling the investigation āneedless and politically motivated.ā She said that āinstead of attacking unemployment, Republicans are waging a war against women.āĀ Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., called the investigation an āabusive witch hunt by Republicansā that is āan unconscionable waste of taxpayer dollars, and harassment of a trusted healthcare provider for millions of women and families in Connecticut and across the country,ā in a recent press release.
Americans Unitedās Fiedorek says these abuses āhave been going on for 20 years,ā and that Planned Parenthood is āridden with abuse.ā She claims the group has been āover-billing the governmentā for years.
āThere are so many red flags,ā she says.
In a recent email to supporters, Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards called the investigation āharassment and intimidation.āĀ Richards said the investigation is āan effort to undercut Planned Parenthood and undermine Planned Parenthood health centersā ability to provide essential care to the women, men, and teens who rely on them.ā
This week, Planned Parenthood received another blow from Congress. The House GOP unveiled a spending bill on Thursday that would āeliminate the Title X family-planning program, ban federal funding to Planned Parenthood Federation of America (unless the organization ends its abortion services), redirect teen-pregnancy-prevention programming funds to abstinence-only sex-education programs and ban private insurance companies from covering abortion,ā The American Independent reports.
Fiedorek attended the Care Net conference this week in Orlando, where she was among several voices expressing excitement over the recent anti-Planned Parenthood measures. Abby Johnson, also an attendee, even went as far as to say that Planned Parenthood was āworking with the devil.ā