Transcripts For CSPAN3 Politics And Public Policy Today 20150929

He swore that in his affidavit, this is somebody who is watching out for perhaps being prosecuted at the hearing that he had no personal knowledge of anyone at planned parenthood selling fetal tissue for profit. During his testimony, this is about 15 years ago, he admitted that he was paid by an antiabortion group to appear in the sting video. And i want to quote what he said. When i was under oath, i told the truth. Anything i said on the video when i was not under oath that is a different story. Does that not sound like the story of this video . I think it does. I want to know how you can protect yourself as an institutional matter, how do you deal with these repeated stings, unsuccessful though they are, being approached year after year as you attempt to provide Health Services for lowincome women . What do you do as an institutional matter with repeated stings to keep going in the face of this activity . Well, i think what keeps us going, and i think i could speak here for the thousands of folks that work at planned parenthood, many of whom deal with threats to their own personal safety, is its the patients, thats what keeps you going. But is there anything you can do to protect yourselves when people come off the street you presume they would be in good faith. Is there neganything that an organization could even do to protect themselves against unethical activity of this kind . Well, we work very hard to protect our patients. And they are our number one priority always. And so we have security. We take it very, very seriously. Its a shame to think there are people in this country who are so committed to ending womens access to both Birth Control and safe and legal abortion that they will really resort to any means to try to entrap people, twist the truth in order to reach their ends. But again, we believe, and why i am here voluntarily today, that the facts are on our side. We are proud of the health care we deliver every single year despite the animosity by some. And we are grateful that the American People stands with with planned parenthood as the wall street journal showed last night. 65 . Thank you, congresswoman. We will now recognize the gentleman from florida for five minutes. Thank you, ms. Richards, for being with us. I guess we are all products of our personal experience. We heard the chairman. We heard the Ranking Member how their lives are affected. I guess when i was young i had a different opinion. But when my wife and i lost our first child, your life and your philosophy change. From that time, i tried to be a champion for the unborn. They dont have advocates. A lot of groups get a lot of money advocating. But they dont have a very good lobby. You are an advocate for abortion. And your Organization Provides a significant number of abortions. I think the staff told me there are 300,000 abortions last year in the United States. Is that approximate . About 300,000 at planned parenthood. At planned parenthood . Thats correct, sir. Whats the total in the United States . I think its about a million. Actually, dont hold me to that. I dont have the numbers in front of me. So basically you provide about a third of the abortions. You would probably have to be the leading provider of abortion in the country, your organization. I dont know if thats exactly true. I just know what we do. Ive had belief of some exceptions. But there are many people that i represent, myself who object to any public money going into abortions. I think the majority of americans would oppose public federal dollars going into abortion. Would you agree with that . I dont think the polling reflects that. But i guess it depends im not familiar with your district. I think if you ask people, i think they would. Now thats part of it. Your most recent controversy raised questions about public money in your organization. I looked at it. I was kind of stunned. Its about 41 of your total money is federal money. Its not just a small amount. Because if you had the money you get from different programs, grants, et cetera, its 41 . And ive had that figure confirmed. Thats a significant amount of money. Well, congressman i dont think most people have any problem with you spending the money on Womens Health care. Im a strong advocate for that. You have 650 clinics . Roughly. There are new ones opening all the time. You told miss loomis you dont have one mammogram machine in one . Weve never mammograms have never you dont do that. We do breast exams. Just like my own doctor does. Right. But your breast exams are actually down significantly. And ive got the numbers from your reports from 830,312 exams in 2009 to 487,029 in 2013. And those are your statistics. So youre getting more money, youre not spending it there. Now, do all 650 of the clinics perform abortions . No, sir. How many . Roughly half provide Abortion Services. So half of the clinics. Again, this is where when 41 of the money is coming out of the public treasury people become concerned. And there are people who their religion, their principles, they feel very strongly, as i do i, that no public money should go into this. Mr. Cummins said we should do everything we should t . D8 do the most good. Uhhuh. And, again we dont we have at least the perception it not being the case and the chairman outlined travel lavish parties and expenses. Maybe you separate that money out, but im telling you, it does not look good. I yield back. I would love the chance to respond. I guess that wasnt really it was more of a comment than a question. We need to keep the pace here. Okay. We will recognize the gentleman from virginia for five minutes. Welcome, ms. Richards. Thank you, mr. Congressman. I wish your mom would be here today shed be handing out texas boots to a lot of my colleagues. Shes here in spirit. Thaw. Thank god. You know, i hope every American Woman is watching todays hearing. Because just the visuals as well as well as the audios tell you a lot. My colleagues have said theres no war on women. Look at how youve been treated as a witness. Intimidation, talking over, interrupting, cutting off sentences, criticizing you because of your salary. How dare you who do you think you are . Making a professional salary as a head of a premier National Organization and daring to actually make decisions as head of that organization. Lord almighty, whats america coming to . The disrespect, the misogyny rampant here today tells us what is really going on here. This isnt about some bogus video, the author of whom does not have the courage to appear here. Nor would the majority call him because they know hell make a bad witness under oath. This is about a conservative philosophy that says we are constitutionalists. They hold it up. Rebelieve in rugged individualism and personal liberty, with one big carveout, though. Theres an asterisk in that assertion. And that is except when it comes to women controlling their own bodies and making their own health decisions. You would never know that the constitution, according to the supreme court, guarantees a right of choice. Hopefully, apparently, were going to erode that choice and that right by using insinuation and slander and half truths for to besmirch a premier organization whose primary mission is to provide Health Services both to men and women but primarily women. You know, this notion one of my colleagues said, well, getting rid of planned parenthood will just hand over these functions to Community Health clinics and other nonprofits that can take up the slack. If you were really committed to that principle, surely you would agree to the expansion of medicaid as provided under the Affordable Care act to in my home state of virginia, 400,000 people who arent currently covered. Thats correct. It would make your job a lot easier, wouldnt it . A lot of women, a lot families, in this country need access to health care that arent getting it. So, if we really mean it, thats what wed do. But of course the very same people who are saying that vehemently oppose the expansion of medicaid which would be funded in the first three years 100 of the federal dollars. 90 is a good deal for any state. Which might be why the governor of ohio, the republican governor of ohio, actually agreed with that and expanded it. Thats right. Is there anything else you want to add uninterrupted with some sense of respect, miss richards . Let me at least provide that to you. Well, thank you, congressman. And i did want to respond to some of the whats been said. We are a Health Care Provider to 2. 7 Million People every year. They come to us by choice. So when i think about whats really at stake here, particularly for folks who think about ending access to planned parenthood i think about those folks. Last year we provided 3. 5 million Birth Control services in this country. 4. 4 million std testing and treatments, 378,000 pap tests. Almost half a million breast exams. More than a million pregnancy tests. I think its interesting one of the things we do at planned parenthood is we work to the highest level most current level of health care for women. And so its interesting we are being criticized for the decline in pap smears, but, in fact thats because we actually have adopted the recent the best medicine, which is that not every woman needs a pap smear every year. To me thats what were about. Making sure every woman regardless of her income, immigration status whether she is insured can get a Access Medical care. Thats why we are proud to do it. That is called respect. Thank you, ms. Richards, for being here. Thank you. I recognize the gentleman from tngz mr. Dunkennessee, mr. Duncan, for five minutes. Ms. Richards, this is my 27th year in congress. Im sure i have seen many male witnesses treated much tougher than you have today. And surely you dont expect us to be easier on you because youre a woman . Absolutely not. Thats not how my mama raised me. Right. All right, let me ask you this. You say in your testimony a lot of women wouldnt have access to certain types of health care were it not for planned parenthood. Do you know that the department of health and Human Services say there are 9,727 Health Care Service delivery sites, 4,082 rural health clinics, 1,200 federally funded qualified Health Centers that also operate 9,000 other sites, over 9,000. Do you know about that . And you also know that there are over 2,000 pregnancy Health Centers over 80 which receive no federal funds at all. And that doesnt even count many hundreds of thousands of private doctors and nurses and Health Care Delivery services, walkin clinics and so forth. Have you taken all of that into consideration . What i really certainly. What i can speak to is what i know about, the patients that choose, again, voluntarily to come to us. I think wuj of theone of the interesting things is is nationally a third of the women who access Family Planning services through a safety net provider a third of the women get that from planned parenthood even though were only the point is there are many thousands of other alternative Health Care Providers. Let me ask you this. According to our reports, there are 2. 3 million private charitable organizations. Almost all of whom receive no federal funds. But do you know how many received 41 of their funding from the taxpayers . I dont know how many see as many patients as we do. We see 2. 7 million patients a year. Do you know of any other private charitable organizations that are receiving 41 from the government or 528 million from the taxpayers . The fair comparison is who is seeing 2. 7 million patients. Because as i said earlier, we dont get a big check from the federal government. We actually are reimbursed for services delivered, for Birth Control, for std testing and treatment, for wellwomen visits. Well, i can tell you almost every one of those 2. 3 million charitable organizations would given the opportunity tell us that the government or the taxpayers benefit from what theyre doing also. And just to give you an example. The National Boys and girls club in the last annual report said they received 26 million from the federal government compared to your 528 million. It seems a little bit lopsided to me. I think the cost of providing health care to 2. 7 Million People and i very much respect the boys and girls club. We work like hospitals being reimbursed directly for services that we provide. Again, i think its the comparison is a little apples and oranges. Let me ask you this. Do you think its right in a free country to force people to contribute to your organization . Because thats what youre doing, taking taxpayer money from people who are totally opposed to what you are doing. We provide health care under the Medicaid Program just like every other hospital or Health Care Provider that sees medicaid patients. One thing that is important to understand in many areas there arent new doctors or Health Care Providers that will see medicaid patients. Particularly when youre talking about obgyn services its not always easy for women and particularly in the southern United States to find someone who will actually provide them a wellwoman visit, Birth Control services. Let me ask you this because my time is running out. I know you apologized for the discussion and the tone and maybe the laughter. I dont know whether you apologized for the laughter or not on the videos. Im not clear on this. Do you defend the sale of baby body parts . No. And i think that is a total mischaracterization. Fetal Tissue Research was started which as i mentioned was started the whole commission that legalized and created the structure under fetal Tissue Research was started under the reagan administration. What it does is facilitates fetal tissue donation. And that is actually as i said fewer than 1 of our Health Centers do any facilitate fetal tissue donation for the patient but fetal Tissue Research has led my time has run out. I just want to say this. It seems to me that the apology you offered was like what some criminals do. Theyre not really sorry for what they have done. They are sorry they got caught. And it seems to me that your apology is more because you got caught on these videos. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I respectfully disagree. I thank the gentleman. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Ms. Richards, thank you for testifying and being here today. An organization that provides such extensive Preventive Health care to millions of women. And, in fact, i ask unanimous consent to submit for the record a letter from 92 organizations that work closely with planned parenthood talking about all of the great High Quality Health Care planned parenthood provides to women and men across the country. Without objection so ordered. Thank you. I myself have received services from planned parenthood. I like many young men and women in this country when i was young and in my early 20s, i came from a very poor family. I wasnt able to afford college. I went based on student loans, pell grants and two jobs, one of which as a waitress. I couldnt get that waitressing job without getting a health exam. I couldnt afford to go to a doctor. The job was there. You can start friday if you come in with a valid health exam. Go to your local planned parenthood. They will do it for you today. And you can start work in two days. It was a life saver. I remember what it was like to be a young person needing the health care and being able that i could go to my local planned parenthood and get all the care that i needed. Thank you for providing those services for me when i was in need. I want to talk about what you do across the country and focus a little bit as an exemon my home state of illinois. I think its a critical point that 96 of the services that planned parenthood, according to your most recent a annual report are for preventive and screening services. In illinois for 2015, tell me if these sound accurate to, nearly 60,000 patients were served over the course of approximately 110,000 visits in illinois. Nearly 50,000 for contraceptive services. Over 34,000 were for std testing and treatment. 7,000 visits were for cancer screenings. Does that sound about right to you, ms. Richards . That does. That does. Thank you, congresswoman. Thank you. I would like to address an issue that started very early on in this hearing which is this implication by allowing medicare and medicaid to reimburse planned parenthood we are shifting money away that could better used for military defense and for our servicemen and women. As a military woman who just retired after 23 years of service, i would like to ask you to talk a little bit about the services that planned parenthood has provided to military men and women and their families for the past several decades and also include the women of the peace corps. I think it is especially to note that the very women who are willing to lay down their lives for this great nation were denied services under the heid amendment for Abortion Services especially as a result of rape and incest and especially, you know, this is tragic in light of the many tens of thousands of women who are victims of military sexual trauma every single year. Can you go over what youve done for military men and women and the peace corps volunteers over the past many decades . Thank you. And im glad we were able to provide you health care when you needed it. My first real doctor visit was a planned parenthood when i had gone away from texas. So im grateful as well to the organization. We do serve everyone. That is really our mantra is care no matter what. We believe it is so important that no matter what walk of life someone comes from whether theyre insured, whether theyre in the military, that they get services. In fact, i remember the last time this house of representatives went through a similar exercise. I remember hearing from a woman in North Carolina who said you know, she wrote in. She said i dont know if they know that. Us military wives go to planned parenthood when a doctor on base cant see us. So i do know that we serve military families all over this country. And were proud to do so. Can you talk a little bit about senator murrays Bipartisan Legislation to allow Women Veterans and families Health Services act which would allow access to ivf treatment many for infertility issues caused by our military service being withdrawn as a result of the attacks on planned parenthood . Im not that familiar with all the details of her bill. I know senator murray has been a strong advocate for ensuring that women in the military get the same types of services, that women do here in the states. And i think we are highly supportive of that. It is incredibly important that we equalize womens access to health care both globally and in the u. S. Thank you very much, miss richards. I yield back, mr. Chairman. Now recognize the gentleman from michigan. I thank the chairman and the witness for being here. I am wearing a pink tie in solid date of Womens Health issues today. My wife, daughterinlaw, daughter, my two granddaughters. Congratulations. Are extremely important to me. Just to go back to some of the statements on the video videos. And im not going to spend time there. But planned parenthood commissioned a report by fusion gps examining the authenticity of the videos. The conclusion of that report says the analysis did not reveal widespread evidence of substantive video manipulation and it shows no evidence of audio manipulation. Full versions of the videos are available on the center for medical progress website and the cmp youtube channel. Showing that only parts that have been edited are, one, bathroom breaks and, two, breaks where no conversations took place. I just want that stated for the record, mr. Chairman, as we have a lot of controversy about the videos. Yet the eyes show but ears even more so hear what was said. Let me could i address that very quickly. I want to go on to more crucial issues. I think its important that we at planned parenthood asked, i think even prior to this committee, that all the original source footage be released. Thats actually that has still not happened. Because, again, we want all of it out there. We want to know too. Yeah. I think we can agree on that. What we have seen so far the ears have heard what were said. Also, i would address the unnecessary attacks coming from some on the other side. Especially on men taking an interest in the lives of people most important in our lives. If men in this society arent allowed to stand and defend the women and children we love what has our country fallen to . It is a shame when we have brought into a frenzy and concern about what happens to our babies, our most defenseless. I just held in my arms my brandnew granddaughter three weeks ago in the african country where she was born. And i thanked god for that life, that unique special life. And i told my soninlaw on the way home i said its amazing, prince, as we drive home today, having never met this little girl before, i would give my life for her. I love her. Shes unique and special. Thats why we have this hearing today. We want to get to the truth. We want to make sure Womens Health care issues are dealt with and dealt with appropriately. In that same country, meeting with the president of the country the next day and the speak of parliament who is a female, they pleaded with me as a member of congress to stop hurting their women and families and children trying to change their culture with organizations like our state department usaid and planned parenthood. Let me ask some questions here. And i take this information from planned Parenthood Federation of america, your website. And i take it from medicare benefit policy manual. It says the qualified Health Care Centers 13,000 of them in this listing, and planned Parenthood Centers provide pelvic exams, std testing manual breast exams, Birth Control. Both entities provide that. Is that correct . I dont know what all the entirety of all fqcs provide. But you provide all that i just mentioned . Yes. But emergency First Responder care, mammograms, immunizations, diabetes and glaucoma screenings, cholesterol screenings, peedattic eye, ear, dental screenings, well child services, radiological services, cardiovascular blood test bone mass measurement, nurse on staff, all of those according to your website you dont provide . We provide in some places but its not a core service so it depends on the state. It is not a promised service. Its according to state. According to the medicare policy manual the federal qualified Health Care Services provide that. Now if were talking about care for women, i would suggest that the care is there in 13,000 without the controversy of the abortions of the fetal manipulation and potential use of body parts in the wrong way. And i think for the record if were talking about Womens Health care, the issue of where we find it is found in 13,000 plus Centers Available to women. And medicaid isnt dealing with it. And, oh, by the way, your Opening Statement indicated great problems with medicaid and obamacare is supposed to take care of that. I hear my time has ended and thank you, mr. Chairman. I would be happy thank you. I recognize the gentle lady. Thank you. There is a couple this is very troubling to sit here as a woman and to hear some questions that are obviously insensitive. One the continual question of why dont you provide the xrays for a mammogram, where every woman here knows you have a primary doctor. That doctor exams you. If there is a lump, you are referred to a specialist. I wish those who would sit here and ask those questions would actually have the sensitivity to understand what a woman goes through with her health care. That would allow us to ask more pertinent questions. Secondly, it is exhausting to keep hearing about federal dollars being spent on abortion when repeatedly the facts state, and its not a controversy, read the facts. Do your research before you ask these exhausting, sometimes i feel insulting questions. We cannot use federal dollars for abortion. This is not a lump sum budget item that we give to planned parenthood. It is reimbursement how many times does that have to be repeated for this to become an embraced fact . If there were no citizens of the United States going to planned parenthood to receive these medical approved services that we approve as a congress, there will be no reimbursement going to planned parenthood. They would not receive any funds. I just for the life of me sitting here today i know my colleagues are more intelligent than this. And it is exhausting to hear just a philosophy of attack to just use information that is totally incorrect. As if i keep saying it some kind of way it will become factual. My question, there would be these other Health Care Services for million of women because you went away. Theres a suggestion that all of these Community Health centers would just step in and fill up. A claim that Community Health centers readily can absorb the loss of planned parenthoods is a gross misrepresentation. I would ask you, can in your experience in health care the perception that if you went away it would be totally absorbed. Can you please respond to that . Yes congresswoman. This is an important point and theres been a lot of discussion. First for the record we see 2. 7 million patients a year, 78 of them are at 150 of poverty or below. So, these are group of women and men and young people who are often uninsured and certainly have fewer less access to care. I know there have been a lot of reports that have come out since congress has suggested eliminating access to planned parenthood for patients. I know the cbo own study, the Congressional Budget Office estimated 390,000 women would lose care next year if planned parenthood if women could no longer go to planned parenthood. I think to some of the questions that blhave been raised its important for folks to understand as you talked about how women get breast care in this country, in some areas we are the only safety net care. The care that they need is Family Planning, its access to their cancer screenings and wellwomen visits. In many areas there are long waits. 60 of our clinics will see folks the same day. In some areas they wont take any more medicaid patients and planned parenthood is the only entity so and it is true that the medicare and the targeted audience or group that use planned parenthood are often those who are most at risk africanamerican minority women, die at a higher level than any other population when it comes to to Breast Cancer, when it comes to actually dying from having pelvic or cervical cancer. So, we are actually giving opportunities. I want to interject or ask mr. Chairman unanimous consent to enter a letter into the record from latino organizations that stated that they know for a fact in their communities the Community Health centers could not absorb this. I just want to close, because i only have two seconds without objection so ordered. But the gentle womans time has expired. Thank you. Will now recognize the gentleman from arizona. Mr. Chairman, i yield my time to the gentle woman from utah, miss love. Thank you. Im right here. Thank you. First of all, i want to say thank you for coming and answering questions. I want to be very clear that there are no gotcha questions here. I just want to be able to get as much information as possible. Im not here to try to change your mind or change the minds of my colleagues im just trying to get as much information out to the public as we possibly can because some of these funds are their taxpayer dollars and i think they deserve to have some answers. First of all, miss richards in the annual report planned parenthoods annual report, says that you are providing over 489,000 Breast Cancer screenings. And you stated that none of your clinics actually have the mammogram machines. How many of the how many of your affiliates have those mammogram machines . Well, our Health Centers are part of our affiliates. We have more than 650 Health Centers so affiliate is simply the Corporate Structure for those Health Centers. And how many of those have mammogram machines . An affiliate isnt a Health Center. I said i think i spoke earlier, we do not have mammogram machines at our Health Centers and weve never stated as we did. It was mentioned earlier for women who go for a breast exam, just as i go for my annual you get a breast exam and if you need a mammogram, youre referred to a radiological clinic and thats what we do at planned parenthood every day. You refer them to radiological clinics . We have partnerships with the Komen Foundation and we have a lot of different ways we refer mammograms. How much does planned parenthood make from cancer screenings . How much we make . Yes. The revenues. For federal for federal so just talking federal funded, we dont make money off of cancer screenings. Thats great. How many how much well you dont get anything for mammograms either. How much is made from abortions . Whats the revenue that comes from abortions . Youre going to have to bear with me a minute so i can be responsive if you can respond as quickly as possible. Okay. There are 59 affiliates. Each of them are completely different. Right . They all run their own operation and i cant tell you i think this question was raised earlier. I cant tell you specifically you cant tell me how much you actually make from abortions . You cant give that number. Okay. The National Office just also so you know, we do not proi Health Services at the National Office. Weve provided information for all 59 affiliates their annual, their audited Financial Statements i wasnt even asking about the affiliates. Thats where Health Services are provided so thats relevant to your question. Okay. But you dont have those numbers. All youre saying the health Care Affiliates have these numbers and you dont have them so you dont know. Certainly not. For the year ending june 30th, 2014 according to planned parenthood reports 1 million 1 sorry, excuse me. 127. 1 million in revenue over expenses. From 2005 to 2013, planned parenthood reported a 53 reduction in cancer screenings and Prevention Services and 42 reduction in breast exams and breast care while abortions have increased 24 . Can you understand a little bit of the hesitancy and trying to figure out why those numbers have gone down where abortions have actually gone up . Were these were talking about two different so we dont mix apples and oranges here. So federal funding pays medicaid funding and title ten pays for very specific preventive Care Services as weve discussed. And federal funding does not pay for abortion except in very limited circumstances. What im trying to say why would it be offensive if we actually took funding and put it into clinics thatb actually provide where those numbers are actually increasing providing health care exam, providing mammograms that actually have those . The medicaid reimbursements if they are going up, if the numbers are going up, thats becausemore services are being provided. As you know many women now because of the Affordable Care act and Medicaid Expansion there are more patients on medicaid that are coming to us for health care. So, thats all the reimbursements are directly related to Health Care Delivery services. Thats exactly we work planned parenthood is you were not here earlier. But planned parenthood is like any other hospital or Health Care Provider that provides services to medicaid patients. Youve also made it very clear that if planned parent hood wasnt around, this would be very difficult for lowincome families. So what is the responsibility of hospitals and other clinics that, you know, that you actually that people can actually go to . I mean, you cant say that planned parenthood is like, the only place that is available . No. Obviously its a place that 2. 7 million patients choose to come to voluntarily every year. Whats important in a lot of area of the country they wont take more medicaid patients. Glooschoose to go. I would agree. Theres no reason we cant provide those options elsewhere. Where people can have their choice as to where they go. Exactly. Congresswoman i think in might be an area where you and i agree. My time is love. Mr. Chairman i would like to have the chance to answer the questions. You did actually, you answered my questions. Mr. Chairman, if you could help get the information for the numbers ive asked for that would be really helpful. I appreciate. The 6 yielded to you. I would ask for unanimous consent to take four pages from the annual report where we have the documentation in the reduction of the breast exams and breast care. And so without objection would like to enter that into the record. No objection, so ordered. Now recognize the gentleman from california mr. Lew for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chair. Thank you, miss richards, for your testimony and the gracefulness with which you answered the questions today. I want to also thank you for running an organization that has helped millions of women and men across america and on behalf of the majority of women and men in this great nation, i want to say thank you. And having sat here for the last hour and a half, i feel like im in some sort of bizarre alternate universe. I think its crazy were having this hearing based on heavily edited videos and misleading videos that actually show the exact opposite of what was happening. And what was happening was that planned parenthood was following the law. I think its also crazy that were here when we have fetal Tissue Research that is not only entirely legal but has bipartisan support. I think its insane that in my district now because of these misleading videos women have in some cases had to go through two sets of bombproof doors just to Access Health care. And i thank you for your courage. And i note the cowardliness of the maker of these videos who is too scared to come before us to testify. So, lets just come back to reality for a few minutes. Abortion is legal in the United States of america. Isnt that correct miss richards . It is correct. And we dont live in a theocracy. The law of the land is not the Old Testament or the new testament or the koran or the torah. The law of the land is the constitution of the United States. Isnt that correct, miss richards . Thats correct. And abortion is a constitutional right, isnt that correct . Correct. And planned parenthood allows women to access that constitutional right, isnt that correct . Yes, we do. And none of that gets any federal funding, is that correct . Thats correct, except in the very limited circumstances allowed by federal law. Thank you. Now, there are multiple medical clinics across america that also provide Abortion Services, correct . Im sorry . Could you repeat . There are multiple medical clinics and hospitals. And hospitals across america that provide Abortion Services, correct . Correct. And they also provide services that have medicaid reimbursement, isnt that correct . I believe thats correct, yes. And no one is saying lets shut down medical clinics and hospitals because they also happen to provide Abortion Services, is that correct . I dont think thats been proposed. In fact, theyre going right after planned parenthood even though you do the same thing as many of these medical clinics. Because you actually, like any organization, have separate line items, thats not a new or novel concept, correct . Correct. So, lets talk about fetal Tissue Research. It has made enormous lifesaving changes for millions of americans and people across the world, isnt that correct . Thats right. In fact fetal Tissue Research has resulted directly in the development of the polio vaccine, vaccines for hepatitis a, rubella, chicken pox, shingles and rabies. Anyone in america that has had a Family Member or themselves been affected by multiple sclel rowrosis and other diseases you can thank fetal Tissue Research for advancements in that field. If anyone has been affected by Macular Degeneration by all sorts of cancer by diabetes, by cardiovascular disease and immune system issues and glaucoma you can thank fetal tissue reich for making vages ment advancements in those areas. Its crazy that were here because the other side wants to shut down government because planned parenthood was following the law because fetal Tissue Research is something thats helping lots of people and now we want to shut down government because we want to defund all of that. That doesnt make any sense to me. And let me sort of conclude now by asking you to respond to sort of the questions about why theres been a reduction in cancer screenings. Isnt it true because guidelines have changed . Thats correct. They said lets do less mammograms. And then in terms of medicaid reimbursements the guidelines changed there too about pap smears, lets do less of those, too, isnt that correct . Thats correct. And we also follow the best science and best medicine at planned parenthood. And then let me read a quick letter from one of my constituents who saw that planned parenthood might get defunded. She said she grew up in a small desert town and made poor choices and at age 15 started having sex and he didnt want to end up pregnant like a lot of young girls . My town so she went to the one place she knew would help her planned parenthood. They made her feel comfortable. They gave her an exam and gave her Birth Control pills and told her she had an std and told her to take antibiotics and without that the std could have made me permanently defert defertile and she thanks plans sned parenthood for helping her and her family. Im so fleecepleased to hear that. Thank you for sharing that. I would thank the gentleman, but i would also admonish all members on both sides, the proscription of motivation is not something we generally allow members to push on other members. I will tell you in response to what the gentleman said the producer of these videos was not invited to this hearing. And part of the reason we didnt do that is we think i think i did the responsible thing and youve heard mr. Cummins in support of this is i issued a subpoena to get all the videos. And the only reason that they have not been produced is that theres a temporary restraining order by a court in california. I would love to have the videos. But if were going to ferret out what these accusation is you have to see all the videos. And thats what were trying to do. But there was never a suggestion that this gentleman, mr. Delideon, was anything but cooperative. He simply was not invited here because without the videos we cant have a good discussion about that. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, let me just ask you this. With this order coming out of california are we going to continue to try to get all of the videos, you know, i just i see how we have been aggressive with regard to getting witnesses and trying to get documents. And this is such a very important issue. And as ive said to you privately, i think that what im concerned about is the integrity of the process no matter what no matter where people end up on either end. If these videos are going to be even partially the foundation of what were doing, i think we need to have all of them and we need to pursue them just like we would pursue other items that we and information that we need. And i just ask the chairman are we going to continue to try to pursue that . I mean absolutely. Thats what we did, without the support continue to do . And well continue to do it. Thats what we did without the support of the minority in this case. We will continue to do that, if but for this temporary restraining order i think we would have actually had them by the time that we got here but we did not. We will continue to pursue them. Were working closely with house Legal Counsel who is now representing us to try to make that case to that court and to that client. That case to that court and that client. Let me make it very, very clear that you have now said it two or three times. I want to make it clear. We will join you in a subpoena to get every single tape, period. No ands, no ifs or buts, period. And i dont know where thats coming from. As a Ranking Member of this committee, im letting you know that. I appreciate the clarification. I recognize the gentleman from tennessee for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And i would like to yield to the gentleman from arizona. I thank the gentleman. Mr. Cummings, you made a comment earlier that i want to address. In the new york times, they reported the epa unleashed a major lobbying campaign to rally comments and support for its regulation. You earlier went off on Lockheed Martin in regards to that application. I have to tell you the epa also disregarded the antilobbying act and broke the law. I would hope that you would cosponsor my removal of ms. Mccarthy as the epa administrator. Now back to those processes in here. Ms. Richards, im up here. Youre a ceo, right . Yes, sir. You do understand Market Penetration, right . Im a nonprofit ceo, so you look at the numbers. All ceos are looking at how they expand and profit. We dont profit. I dont actually look at how to profit. We do obviously look at how to expand into areas particularly where theres unmet need. Okay. I like that. So your Market Penetration in arizona is different than your Market Penetration in new york state, would you say . Im sure it is. Theres three in arizona and theres quite a few more in new york. And theres a pretty good web of preventive services. I kind of want to go back. Your annual report said 173. 6 million in excess revenues for the fiscal of 20132014. That number has jumped 18. 5 million from its report in 20092010. I would like you to tell me how you got the growth of those funds. Why were seeing such a growth in that profit. Well, its not profit. So let me just be really clear in terms of terminology. Its not profit. Actually its revenue that we use for services. So so would we agree its excess of revenues over expenses . Correct. I want you to explain that. Its from fundraising. Thats what i spend a lot of my time doing. There are areas of the country where we want to expand. To your question about if you only have one Health Center in a state and you think that there is more need, so we are involved currently in raising money and spending it, we just opened a new Health Center you gave me a great answer. You fundraise. We fundraise specifically to expand services. I understand that. I understand that. So what are you looking to report in 2014 . Im sorry. Whats that . So whats that number in 2014 . Weve provided thousands of pages of documents. I dont have that. Its actually going up to 127 million in regards to so theres an escalating aspect. So youre a pretty good ceo. Youre looking at excess revenues over expenses. Thats pretty good. Im having trouble in all this in regards to the fundraising application, particularly when i look at these numbers, the 80 reduction in prenatal Care Services, the 57 reduction in cancer screenings preventive services, 45 reduction in breast exams, on and on and on. And by the way, i was a dentist, so i do understand medicaid reimbursement rates. They dont pay, right . Correct. It depends on the state. Youre lucky if you get reimbursed your costs. Since you do understand medicaid, you know it varies in all 50 states. We do raise money over expenses in order to supplement the costs of medicaid services. I understand. Let me ask you a question. With a mediator, what have you been able to facilitate for a lump cost for the price of contraceptives . Is there a unit price that youve been able to lower it down to get a price fixed . I dont know. I dont do that. Its been reported its about 3 youre paying for the average contraceptive. Actually its very much all over the map, as you know. It depends on on the average. I really actually disagree with you. I dont think thats correct. This is a Profit Center. Because what ends up happening, youre reimbursed by the federal government at medicaid for 35, right . If youre truly looking at mediation and spreading the wealth of pharmaceuticals, when we get a break, you should pass it on . Dont you agree . As you know no, dont you agree . Because that facilitates more services, does it not, ms. Richards . Our entire focus is on serving as many patients as we can. So your example thats not exactly true. What youve done now and the reason i can show this is youve narrowed the focus. What we end up having is, theres very few primary care docs out there because they cant afford to stay in practice. Youve narrowed the scope of practice. This is my time. This is my time so dont interrupt it. From that standpoint is youve narrowed that focus so youre profiting off death. Because where youre making that Profit Center is actually off of abortions. Thats appalling to me. That you very much. The gentlewoman from new jersey. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, ms. Richards, for enduring what i consider to be a very offensive approach on the part of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle as theyve badgered you with questions, as theyve used their rhetoric to use a question to seek information at the same time not giving you a chance to answer the questions. Im actually a little confused why were here. Are we here because of videos and a question of planned parenthood doing something illegal related to the collection of fetal tissue . Are we here simply because the ideological right wing of this republican majority in congress is bringing you here for a fourth hearing . Or are we here because somebody believes that planned parenthood doesnt need federal reimbursement for the healthcare that it gives . For whatever reason, for whatever one of those reasons, those are specious reasons. And for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to act like they dont understand and to suggest that theyre illinformed, if they are illinformed, its because they choose to be. I couldnt hardly get into this room today with all of the people on the outside, in the hallways, that were trying to get in here to be supportive of planned parenthood, because we know and recognize the impact that planned parenthood has had on healthy lives, not just womens lives, but including mens lives. We know in new jersey, in my state, where this governor, chris christie, spent so much of his leverage Defunding Planned Parenthood, and then suggesting that the federally qualified Healthcare Centers would be able to pick up the slack, they came in and testified that they couldnt possibly accommodate all of the deficiencies that would occur without planned parenthood. We know about the work that you do. I want to acknowledge all the young women and men in the overflow room. I want to talk to you a little about mr. Deleiden, whoever the mystery man is, who is trying to discredit planned parenthood. You all had a forensic report done on those videos and that revealed there were so many discrepancies, that there were so many inaccuracies, and that it would be impossible to characterize the extent to which cmps undisclosed edits and cuts distort the meanings of the content. The manipulation of the video means they have no evidentiary value in a legal context and cant be relied upon. I want to put that report in the record and ask for unanimous consent to include that report. Because where along the line we ought to be getting the other part of the story. Mr. Chairman . Before i rule on that, i place a temporary objection in place. Let me look at the report prior to entering it into the record. Then i guess i should also register my temporary objection to the fact that we have one witness here and we havent even trying to get mr. Deleiden here or anyone else to question with regard to the accuracy of all the allegations that we are moving on right now. And also i wanted to say, before i give you an opportunity to answer any question that was left out there in the universe hovering over us, so that you can put things that you think that are on the record, that this is another very poor illustration of our deflecting our attention away from the work that the people have elected us to do. We need to have an Export Import Bank that creates jobs. We need to have an Infrastructure Program that creates jobs. We need to be reauthorizing the appropriate aspects of the Voting Rights act. Weve got so much good work to do. But instead what do we do . We harp on a womans right to make choices that are hers to make. And that to me is very offensive. And with that, ms. Richards, i would like to yield to you the balance of my time to answer any unanswered question that you might have. Thank you. Thank you so much, congresswoman. I would mention to the chair that i believe weve given the forensic report already to you a while back. We can follow up if theres any questions. I appreciate your comments. I think we have now had, either today, for the 14th vote on restricting womens access to healthcare in this country. I think going back to one of the questions on the other side, this is about womens choice to me. This isnt about planned parenthood. Its about allowing women in this country and particularly women of low income or live in areas that are underserved by other healthcare providers, its allowing them to make other decisions about their pregnancies, their healthcare, where they get their services. Many women come to us even if they have other options because frankly, were the best at Womens Health. And i think they deserve the right to make their own decisions about why they access the doctors and clinicians of their choice. Reclaiming the last 25 the gentlewomans time has expired. Im sorry. Would you indulge me . If i do that, i would have to do both. With all due respect, mr. Chairman, you have done it. Ten seconds. It just seems to me this is not the appropriate time to be making decisions about Defunding Planned Parenthood when we dont even know why we want to do it. Thank you. So the gentlewoman had asked unanimous consent to enter into the record this gps fusion analysis. I would also like to add the report prepared by coalfire systems. I ask unanimous consent that both of these be entered into the record. Without objection, so ordered. Well now recognize the gentleman from texas for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to talk a little bit about one of the reasons we need to take a closer look at the funding of planned parenthood, not just as a result of these videos, but as a result of some Financial Issues that are coming up, as president of planned parenthood, youre aware, of course, that planned parenthood of the gulf coast, last year paid a 4. 3 million settlement for false claims made to medicaid and the texas Womens Healthcare program. Is that not correct . Thats correct. And youre also aware that the obama Administrations Department of justice contend that planned parenthood had submitted false claims against the Womens Health program . Im not aware of that. I do know that weve been the target of the same group that has filed many, many, many lawsuits. And thats the one area i know that was settled in order to allow us to get back to healthcare. The United States contends the planned parenthood of the gulf coast submitted false claims to the United States in conjunction with claims submitted to the United States. Mr. Chairman, without objection, i would like to have this Settlement Agreement entered into the record. Without objection, so ordered. So as a consequence, planned parenthood paid 4. 3 million to settle those claims two years ago. Are you aware that this spring, another office by the office of the Inspector General concluded that planned parenthood had overbilled taxpayers another 128,000 in medicaid and the texas Womens Health program . Im not aware of what youre referring to. Im happy to look at it. Thank you. Are you aware that the planned parenthood affiliate in el paso a few years before failed to reimburses its subcontractors for half a Million Dollars in claims . Im not aware of that. That organization doesnt exist and hasnt for years. But im happy to look at your report. Thats another issue i would like to bring up. One of the things that were talking about today is taking some of the money thats going to planned parenthood and sending it to Community Health centers. Do you know how many facilities in texas you have . I dont. But i can certainly actually, bear with me one minute. Ill just make sure i give you the right number. This may be i know we just opened one in plano. I think we have 38 Health Centers. There may be 39 now. So weve got 732 Community Health centers. Admittedly some of those focus on pediatrics or mens healthcare or other specialists. But wouldnt you admit there are substantially more facilities, federally qualified facilities that offer Womens Healthcare than there are planned parenthood facilities in texas . Actually, congressman, there has been a drop in access by women to healthcare, particularly after planned parenthood was for political reasons, i believe, taken out of the Womens Health program. Particularly in some areas like the rio grande border that are vastly underserved. There are three or four facilities down in the rio grande valley, if im a mistaken. I also promised to ask you a couple of questions that constituents and folks on social media asked me to ask. Lauren wanted me to ask you what efforts and what steps does planned parenthood take to guarantee their providers follow state laws requiring reporting of child sex abuse . We have very rigorous standards that we apply. The health and wellbeing of our patients is our number one concern and we certainly comply with all state and federal laws. If there is ever an issue, we take quick action. Peg expressed concern about the same thing the chairman did about activities of the 501 c 4 organization that planned parenthood has helped fund, youve helped manage, and funds have been transferred into for lobbying in almost exclusively democrat political campaigns. One of my concerns is, with your purported goal of making access to Womens Healthcare more available, isnt the money that you are diverting to lobbying effort in politics money that could better be spent actually delivering healthcare to women . Well, congressman, as you know, in the state of texas, the number of laws that the state legislature has passed to restrict access to women to almost every kind of healthcare has caused Many Organizations to have to lobby. You spoke earlier about how you have doctors providing Womens Healthcare, and those doctors are funded by taxpayer money under title x or other reimbursement. Are some of those doctors also providing abortion . Would you be able to afford to have those doctors and keep them entirely busy but for the federal funds coming in . Thats a kind of long, complicated question. I want to be responsive. Obviously federal funds, the most important thing, i think, out of all of that is, federal funds do not pay for abortions at all except in very limited circumstance of when the woman has been raped, has been the victim of incest or her life is endangered. I would contend they help facilitate it. Thats one of the reasons i support defunding. I see im out of time. I appreciate it. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman. Before i recognize the gentleman from california, after he does his questioning, were going to do a brief four to fiveminute break, sort of a humanitarian break for a moment, then we will continue on for the rest of the panel. For those in the audience, i suggest remaining in your seats, if you want to continue to witness the hearing. For those members who have yet to ask questions, hang tight. Well go to the gentleman from california for five minutes and then break. I dont know quite how to take that break after my questioning. Usually people take a break before i ask questions. Anyway, i want to thank you, ms. Richards, for being here, the way youve carried yourself through this hearing and through this recent history, and the wonderful work your organization does. I want to sort of ask two lines of questioning. The latter part, very specific on the bipartisan history of support for fetal Tissue Research. But the first part is just in my experience, in State Government in california, local government, particularly in local government, and in california and the counties that provide healthcare for disadvantaged communities, low income communities, it was always my experience that the clients chose planned parenthood when they had the opportunity, because they wanted to, whether they were a private pay or not. And we developed relationships between the county system and you, because the clients clearly preferred you, at least in our community. So in the spirit of local control, it seems to me, within the federal guidance, you competed very well in the open marketplace, whether it was private pay or reimbursed clients. Is that not true . I appreciate that. Absolutely, providing quality healthcare is our entire mission. We are pleased that many women and men, about 10 of our patients are men, they choose planned parenthood over other healthcare providers. We believe we provide an Excellent Service thats affordable. And we do a lot of outreach in the community to provide education as well. That was my experience, was that in local government you are more efficient and effective than, with all due respect to my friends in the county system, than the county system. Its a little odd listening here, without being judgmental, it reminds me of the old saying, when the law is not with you, you pound the table. 1988, maybe you could just respond after i go through a series of these observations, if this is correct or not, and if you have any other comments, so in 1988 there was a panel called the human Fetal Tissue Transplantation Panel established under president reagan. The chairman was a republican. The panel came together and studied the Science Behind fetal Tissue Research and issued this conclusion it was acceptable Public Policy to support Research Using transplanted fetal tissue. That was under president reagan. Is that correct . Thats correct. Ive learned more about the history. It was a committee that had both supporters of abortion rights, opponents of abortion rights. It was a very bipartisan effort to come to what seems like a very good conclusion that was passed overwhelmingly by the United States senate. That was the revitalization act of 1993, setting forth rules of how fetal Tissue Research was done in this country, passed with republican and democratic support; is that correct . Thats correct. So the bipartisan line for decades has been that fetal Tissue Research has had significant bipartisan support. One of the reasons this research has had some strong support, and mr. Lu alluded to this, is because it helps millions of people. Recently the new england journal of medicine published an article and its observations in this regard were, and i quote, virtually every person in this country has benefitted from Research Using fetal tissue. Every child who has been spared the misery of chicken pox, rubella, or polio can thank the scientists who used fetal tissue. Thats correct. I think probably everyone in this room has benefitted in some way. Just in conclusion, again, thank you for the work you do. Mr. Chairman, while i appreciate your initial comments, particularly as we evaluate, as always, the best and most efficient use of taxpayers money, at least from my perspective and my opinion, both from a local level of 14 years of overseeing the relationship in the bay area with affiliates there, at least at that level, we did our due diligence, and this was the most effective and efficient way of meeting our clients needs. Thank you. Just one quick question, ms. Richards. What do you like most about your job . Getting to see the patients that we serve every day and the young people who are frankly going to have more opportunities than we ever did. Its great. Thank you. The gentlemans time has expired. As i noted prior, we are going to recess for roughly five minutes. We intend to start back up again at 12 35. We stand in recess until then. The committee will come to order. The next person to be recognized is the gentleman from North Carolina, mr. Meadows for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Let me take the emotion out of it. Earlier you said you need to consider the source. Everything ill be quoting comes from planned parenthood. It is my understanding that 3 , according to your website and your testimony today, 3 of the services that planned parenthood offers are Abortion Services. Is that correct . Of your total services, 3 . Im sorry, my mike wasnt on. 3 of the services delivered, of the total services. Yet you say that you dont have the total amount of money, you cant give this committee the total amount of money that you make or receive for abortions; is that correct . Its because the National Office doesnt, as you know, or may not know, the National Office doesnt provide healthCare Services. 59 affiliates provide a variety of healthCare Services. That would be every single organization. Your affiliates gather that information. So you would have access to that . Im sure they have it. I dont have it myself. How do you come up with 3 . Because let me ask the question. 2. 7 million women and men are served by planned parenthood, according to your testimony; is that correct . Thats correct. Annually you provide, according to your report, 327,000 plus abortions last year, according to your annual report. I do the math. 2. 7 Million People, 327,000 abortions. That comes up to 12 . So how do you get 3 . And these are your numbers. Why is it not 12 . Because people come to us for some people come to us more than once and they come to us for different services. Some people come to us and they need a pap smear or they need a variety of services. Im having real trouble coming to this. If you would put up the graph on this is a tax return from one of your affiliates in rochester, syracuse region. If you could read for me line 2b. What does that say . What is the designation there . Pregnancy termination. And the dollar amount next to pregnancy termination there is how much . Again, ive never seen this before. Im simply reading what youre asking me to read. 1,424,275. Im assuming so 1,424,000 for pregnancy termination, according to your affiliates tax return. One affiliate, correct. Do you have tax returns for all your affiliates where we could get this information . Well, i know that we have provided because heres my concern. If you take the number, that 1. 4 million, and divide it into the total revenue of a little over 5 million, that would indicate revenues of almost 28 for abortions. I think were mixes services i think youre mixing services and revenue. Obviously the above line says Family Planning, 3,718,474. Isnt the 3 a little misleading . No. We are i would say the most highly regulated organization in this country. I would disagree with that. But were very transparent about our numbers. I got this for one of your affiliates. Will you provide this same kind of documentation for all your affiliates to this committee . I believe we actually already have. No, you havent. I am happy to speak to the chairman. Because i believe this is the only one that had it. Will you today, yes or no, provide this for all your affiliates . We have produced all okay. We just have a disagreement of opinion, and im happy to talk to the chair its not a disagreement. Will you provide weve already provided the 990s for all our affiliates. You havent outlined it like this. Are you saying you dont keep track of it . You said that. I didnt say that. Im asking, are you keeping track of it . Every single affiliate meets with all the regulations and file their 990s. Thats a great question that i didnt ask. Will you provide it to this committee . I dont know what it is. Weve provided the revenue that planned parenthood derives from abortions. I have said to you, we have been extremely cooperative with this committee and the other three committees. We have provided all the 990s, all the audited annual statements of our affiliates. If theres anything after, im happy to talk to the staff here about what else is needed that were not providing. I really believe we have gone above and beyond in providing anything thats requested of us. My time has expired. I recognize the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Boyle. Thank you, mr. Chairman. F i also want to thank ms. Richards for the manner in which youve conducted yourself today. There was one answer youve given that surprised me, when Ranking Member cummings asked what the favorite part of your job here. I assumed you were going to say, sitting here for three hours, answering questions from members of congress. A couple of of these statistics have been cited before, a couple have not, but let me just briefly go through, as has been cited, there are exactly 2. 7 million women and men that planned parenthood see every year, correct . Correct. And of that, 1. 5 million of those patients received services through title x, the nations Family Planning program, right . I think that and im not let me make sure i answer you correctly. About 1. 6 million of our patients are either coming to us through some federal program, either title x or the Medicaid Program. But a number of them are title x, yes, title x recipients. Contraceptive services prevent 1. 2 million unintended pregnancies, which would result significantly in 590,000 unplanned births, 400,000 abortions, and 190,000 miscarriages. So in a country with approximately a million abortions a year, what were talking about is, without such Title X Services that planned parenthood provides and clearly constitutes the majority of your work, the number of abortions each year in the u. S. Would be approximately 40 higher. I think the consequences of what were talking about havent fully been laid out, not just in terms of cancer screenings and the treatment of stds, but also, ironically, in what would inevitably be an increase in the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions. Thats correct. Right now theres such Exciting Research happening with better contraceptives. Young women now can get long acting, reversible contraceptives. Ive been questioned about why in some cases we have fewer visits in some areas. Now you dont have to come back to planned parenthood every month to get Birth Control pills because we can provide them for six months. Women and men that planned parenthood see every year, correct . Correct. And of that 1. 5 million of those patients receive services through title x, the nations Family Planning program, right . I want to answer you correctly. About 1. 6 million of our patients are either coming to us through some program, either title x or the Medicaid Program but a number of them are title x recipients. Contraceptive services at Title X Centers prevent 1. 2 million unintended pregnancy which would significantly in 590,000 unplanned births, 400,000 abortions and 190,000 miscarriages. So in a country with approximately a million abortions a year, what were talking about is without such title 10 services thes afters that planned parenthood provides and clearly constitutes the majority of your work the number of abortions would be 40 higher. Not just cancer screenings but treatment of stds but would be an increase in unintended pregnancies and abortions. Its interesting because right now theres such Exciting Research happening with better contraceptives. Young women can get longacting reversible contraceptives. I know ive been questioned about why in some cases we have fewer visits in some areas and one of the exciting things is now you sometimes dont have to come back to planned parenthood every month to get Birth Control pills because we can provide them for six months or you can get a longer acting method and in the states that have pioneered this work to provide women any Birth Control, were seeing drops in pregnancy rate and abortion rates. I think thats something we can all celebrate and maybe the focus should be on how best to provide women the health care they need and this is something where we can build common ground. I did also want to point out, i think you cited this before and its only been mentioned once in these three hours, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, if this legislation goes through, 390,000 women would lose their access to health care. Thats correct. Where else could they turn . I think thats the difficulty. I appreciate you bringing back up the cbo study because its important. There are some areas where we are the only safety net Family Planning provider. Other areas, folks who are taking medicaid patients wont take anymore because as discussed by everyone medicaid payments dont pay for services but the other thing id like to emphasize is that there are women and young people that choose planned parenthood even though they have other options because we provide very High Quality Health Care, particularly Family Planning services, that they may not be able to get anywhere else without judgment, without shame. One of the points you were making, the statistic i have, and i think you cited, is that at least 78 of planned parenthoods Health Care Patients have incomes of 150 of Poverty Level or less. Thats correct. Thats correct. So its pretty clear were talking about people who dont have a great deal of options given their income . And to me that is the point is that i believe low income women in this country should have all the same options to have highquality Affordable Health care as every other woman. Thank you. And with 11 seconds left ill e yield back. I now recognize the gentleman from florida for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Miss richards, if a child survives an abortion attempt should it be given nourishment and medical care . Ive never heard of such a circumstance happening. Really . Yes, i mean i so if it happened you would say i can say of planned parenthood im aware of no instance where we dont provide abortions after viability so but in my experienced of planned parenthood we havent ever had that kind of circumstance. But you would say that there could be medical care would be in order at that point . Forget about planned parenthood . Just generally. Again, i want to be responsible for planned parenthood and what we do there certainly in this situation which, again has never occurred that i know of of a baby born, that baby should, as the mother should, get appropriate medical care from the physician and would. Have you watched all the videos released by the center for medical progress. I havent watched the multihour edited videos but i have read all of the written transcripts. So the ones that are on youtube you havent watched those . Well, there have been hours and hours and hours so i havent i did read through the all the ive watched many videos and read through the transcripts that have been provided by, again. I would say that its important that my position i would like to see all of the videos that are not edited and those that have been provided by. I understand. What about there was one specific one that there was a technician, Holly Odonnell, she was describing harvesting the brain of a lateterm boy, she said she wasnt sure if the baby was alive since its heart was still beating and she harvested the brain by cutting his head open starting with the chin, do recall that. That woman does not work for planned parenthood so i cannot speak to anything she said. Im not responsible for her. Do you deny that her description of what happened is something that does occur in planned parenthood clinics . There is nothing she has ever described that i could attest to has ever happened. So you can categorically testify to that . Categorically testify to what . I want to be very careful. That what she described well, i dont remember that particular video of Holly Odonnell but i will tell you she has never worked at planned parenthood she was a technician for stem express but i think it was something that was very, very troubling to sit there and read that or watch that video. Let me ask you this. Do you admit that planned parenthood or its afill i cant tell affiliate harvest and sell fetal body parts for profit . We have a very clear policy on fetal tissue donation. Its done with the full consent of the patient and as i said earlier in my statements it is only only currently done in fewer than 1 of planned parenthood Health Centers but no profit. Excuse me. The one affiliate in Washington State that does not receive any reimbursement for their cost and theres only one other one which is in california and they have assured us that whatever reimbursement they receive it is less than what the costs are for providing fetal issue to that organization. Thats the case, then, the video with dr. Gutter negotiating over the price of the parts. If theres no profit being made, why would you be negotiating over how much the parts are going to be sold . Well, with respect, i completely disagree with your characterization of that and that is why i read all of the transcript, not these edited sensationalized videos and what i read well there is we take this very seriously there is negotiation. I understand i just disagree with your characterization. Thats fine and people can judge. Let me ask you this. Do you deny that planned parenthood and or its affiliates will alter abortion procedures in order to better harvest fetal body parts . We have a very clear policy which im happy to read to you about how we allow patients to make fetal tissue donations. Would you like me to since the release of the videos have you or the planned Parenthood Federation issued any updated guidance to the companies to whom you provide fetal tissue regarding the sale of fetal body parts for profit and or the manipulation of abortion procedures. Well theres no way to answer that because i disagree with your formulation. We allow women voluntarily have you issued new guidance within the past three months. No, although as i said in my letter to congress ive asked our chief medical officer and our medical team to review all the work we do and, again, its very limited in fetal tissue donation to ensure that if there are anythings we could be doing better we would like to do that. My time has expired. Thank you, well recognize the gentleman from vermont, mr. Welsh, for five minutes. Thank you very much. A couple of things preliminarily. Number one, there is a sharp disagreement on members of this committee about abortion and i think each side is entitled to mutual respect. There is a significant disagreement about fetal Tissue Research and each side is entitled to respect. What is clear is the law says abortion is legal and the law has limited authorize for fetal Tissue Research. Thats the law. What planned parenthood is doing is completely consistent with the law. Were now having an argument about a video that has been redacted and doctored, theres no dispute about that. All of us would like to get the entire video and in a prudent investigatory process we would get the evidence before we argue about the evidence we dont have. So that is a limitation on our ability to get to the truth. Second, im just going to speak for vermont, 16,000 women voluntarily choose to get their primary health care from planned parenthood. These are individuals of free will acting on the basis of what they believe is in the best interest of them getting the health care they need. Second, the proposal here that we could transfer the services that planned parenthood provides to our Community Health centers doesnt stand up in vermont. We have Community Health centers that were very proud of. Senator sanders, senator leahy and i have been big promoters but its clientele is a significantly different population than women who have made a choice to go to a planned parenthood for Womens Health care issues. So this proposed remedy would have an incredibly negative impact on the choice that vermont women make about getting their basic health care. And, by the way, that health care thats important to the woman who decides to go to planned parenthood is appreciated by her family, their partners and the community so what is congress doing here . Were having an argument thats never going to end about abortion but were proposing to proceed in a way that where the affect of our investigation is going to have collateral consequences that compromises is ability of women to get access to basic health care needs. And its also in the context where its indisputed that the services that planned parenthood provides have helped reduce dramatically teen pregnancies and other pregnancies. So i think we should all take a step back here and think about what we do before we act the first medical principal that all doctors follow, do no harm. Ms. Richards i do want to ask you a couple of questions. This alarming inquiry about whether you are selling planned parenthood is selling for profit, body parts. Weve seen a proposed contract to send planned parenthood affiliate offering to buy tissue samples and that included a compensation clause. Were you familiar with that document . Yes, i am. And in response your affiliate removed the word compensation and added the following text the payments shall not under any circumstances be calculated in such a way as to generate a profit for source. So miss richards, is that what the affiliate did and is that the strict policy of planned parenthood . Thats a very good example of what happened akoss the country. This group who as i said are committed to they werent really committed to rooting out any misdeeds, they were actually trying to entrap doctors and clinicians into signing bogus contracts and breaking the law. So this example is a very good one of where they were completely rebuffed and yet they continued to badger and badger and badger our doctors to get them to commit to something that was unethical or illegal. And after your affiliate sent the deletion of the term compensation did he lose interest . There was never a contract that i know of that was actually sent back. Let me ask another question about a failed attempt. On july 20 he sent a letter to chairman up you sent a letter to chairman upton, you said this in another instance, biomax offered to pay much more, sending the affiliate a Procurement Agreement that offered a payment of 1600. A your letter said this was a astronomical amount compared to the reasonable cost affiliates are allowed to recoup under federal law. Is that right . I dont have that in front of me. Im out of time. A thank you. Thank you mr. Chairman, appreciate your testimony. I am also married to a strong lady, a family nurse practitioner, helped launch the Sexual Assault nurse exam inner program at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center many years ago. But we stand together. We have done work in inner cities, places like cleveland and baltimore and new york and im troubled with some of the statistics that weve even seen out of new york and maybe you can address that. I dont want to talk over you. I want to give you a chance to respond but according to the, no Health Department statistic we know there are more africanamerican babies aborted in new york than born alive. Are you aware of that statistic . Im not aware of that statistic. If that is correct, would that concern you . Obviously planned parenthood has more clinics in new york state than any other state. Actually, thats not true. We do not. What is the number one leading state that you have . I believe its california. Ill have to look to make sure. But if you know thats not true its not only planned parenthood, there are a number of Health Care Providers in the state of new york beyond planned parenthood. Its one of the better served i understand. But weve already established somewhere between 30 and 40 of all abortions come from your organization so if were going to put out stats we want to make sure were talking cent on the numbers. And i think mr. Walker its an important point because one of the other i dont know what all the statistics are that you have but of course the lack of access for africanamerican women in particular to basic Preventative Health care, including Family Planning, is a huge problem in this country as well. It is and i agree with you. As aforementioned time in places that weve served in worked in but it does concern me that three times the africanamerican population is 13 yet theyre being aborted three times percent of the population at 35 . That should concern all of us, im sure it concerns you as well. I have a specific question regarding the 32 million sent over seas. Does planned parenthood send any funds to the democrat republic of congo is. This was asked earlier. We touched on it but i want to get back to it. Honestly i didnt bring materials about our International Global program. I would have to get back to you. Im not trying to evade it, its not something i thought was a topic of the committee meeting. I hope you would because we have laws in this country that prohibit us from sending money to places where we have sanctions on and if were if planned parenthood is doing that i would imagine that would be something that would concern you, would it not . We certainly comply with all the laws globally and domestically and thats why i commit to you i will get information and work with the committee to get information. Fair enough. I have a question. As a former pastor 15 years in a couple large churches there are many times where we counseled women of different age, various ages, for Different Things they were going through. Sometimes 15, 20, 25 years later after going through an abortion there were still some struggle there. I dont disparage these women for making tough choices as you talk about. Many came from underprivileged community, didnt feel like they had options but of the 500 million of taxpayer money that goes to your organization, how much is set aside to offer counselling to some of those women who are still struggling with that issue . Well, we dont this is what its really hard to explain to you because i feel like were just maybe were talking past each other. We dont get a big check from the federal government. Were reimbursed for direct services. Theyre all Family Planning, std testing, well women visits. I will say though, one area i think we might agree, i would love in this country if we would fully fund for planned parenthood or anywhere else comprehensive Counseling Services for women on a whole host of issues. It is very underfunded and itll really important to us as well because we do counseling with women every single day. I understand that and i i agree there are legitimate Services Offered but this is something that im i saw for 15 years so of the 1. 3 billion in revenue even if doesnt come from taxpayers how much is set aside to offer services of women seeking counseling . We counsel i dont know i could get the numbers for you. We counsel women and young people and men every single day at planned parenthood Health Centers across the country and most of it, as you probably know, is uncompensated care. Well, i look at your numbers and i would tell you this, it is amazing as far as the amount of revenue that exists and i wanted to talk a bit about how much youre sending overseas but i have one final question. If this is a big if there is proven to be criminal activity through an investigation would you have any problem redirecting the 500 million or the 60 million of the 20 thats not medicaid, would you have any problem redirecting that to other Womens Health Care Organizations who offer Genuine Health care . Well, im not going to answer to a hypothetical and, again, i we follow all the laws at planned parenthood, the health and safety of our patients is our number one concern. If there is any issue ever, the state or local National Level we will address it and we do so swiftly is and we always have. Thank you, i yield back. Now well recognize the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands for five minutes. Thank you mr. Chairman and Ranking Member mr. Cummings. Thank you miss richards for being here for the inordinate amount of time that you have and i reiterate so much of what my colleagues here on this side of the aisle have said regarding this hearing and some of the concerns. You and your office know that i have vocalized to you privately the fact that im displeased that planned parenthood is not present in my own district in the Virgin Islands or any of the territories where we have approximately four Million People. And the reason im displeased about that is because i know the good work that planned parenthood does in Preventative Health for women with the Virgin Islands having 141 unplanned teen pregnancies per 1,000 when the National Rate is 29 pregnancies per 1,000. I see how important the work that you guys do is to different areas and the chairman has seven clinics in his area in utah and, mr. Chairman, wed be glad to take any one of them in the Virgin Islands to be able to support Womens Health and the work that you do knowing that 78 of those seven clinics are in rural areas. And i know this committee is searching for truth and thats the purpose of the oversight and Government Reform Committee and i believe we need to do that in a neutral and even handed matter that reflects the integrity of this committee which is why i think this is a premature Committee Hearing if not the fact that the other side, the individual that the minority has requested to be here is not here and while i understand mr. Dayleiden has had restrictions on the videos being produced, he has not produced one document that has been requested by this committee from either side. Dealiden. Will the gentlewoman yield . No, not at this time, sir. Afterwards i will leave you some time. I know thousands and thousands of pages of documents. I think its 20,000 pages and i know that the Ranking Member cummings has sent a request for documents and the chairman, chaffetz and representative jordan have sent their own requests for documents. But and a subpoena was issued and not one page of documents. Although i understand from the testimony that the videos is were, in fact, there was a question regarding that. So miss richards i want to ask you some questions since we only have planned parenthood here and we only have your documents that were able to put up and put up on screens and for you to be questioned about, not the other side which as an attorney is problematic for me to get to the truth if i dont see both sides of the evidence being presented to me. I understand that there are several states that have launched investigations against planned parenthood, is that correct . Well, there have been a variety of were constantly being overseen, our Health Care Services and yes as a result of this recent campaign there have been various state inquiries. And i understand several of those states have cleared parenthood of any wrongdoing . Thats correct. Thats correct. And that there has not been produced any credible evidence that your organization has broken a single law, is that correct . I believe thats true. However theres plenty of evidence that mr. Daleiden and his associates have violated federal and state laws. One example is his group obtaining taxexempt status and apparently solicited charitable contributions under false pretension tense. Are you obtained that obtained a 501 c 3 status as a biomedical organization . All i know is what ive read. And this is a fake organization that filed official paperwork with the state of california to create a sham tissue Procurement Company called Biomax Procurement services llc . Miss richards, as far as i know illegally filing false paperwork with a state agency the against the law, right . It may be, i dont know. I know theres a lawsuit pending and i think the attorney general of california indicated there will be an investigation. So for us to have this discussion with you without having the balance of the other side becomes problematic. Mr. Chairman, did you want to Say Something at this point . Yes, i thank the gentlewoman for yielding. She made a suggest that mr. Daleiden had not been responsive. Thats not true. We issued a subpoena, he responded within the time, that package that arrived has not been opened. Its in our safe. Hes unable to provide all of the documents given that there is temporary restraining order. We understand that, House Counsel is involve. Mr. Cummings and i agree that were trying to get all that information but to suggest he was not responsive is not true because he responded within the time allocated under the subpoena. Its my position, mr. Chairman, that until youre table to open those documents and receive all of them and were able to balance them against the documents, the 20,000 pages of documents produced by planned parenthood that this is an unfair hearing and that were not getting the information. I agree. Thats why mr. Daleiden was not invited to this hearing. The subject is what i said in opening comments and statements. Its the funding component. This does not we did not title this hearing as a hearing on the videos. It caused some controversy but we have in the essence of time some legitimate discussion about a continuing resolution and ongoing funding for planned parenthood and weve laid that out but my comments were not about the video, its about the funding. Thats where my concern lies. Mr. Chairman and we will get to hopefully see those videos but we have to get past the restraining order that has been put in place. If were going to discuss funding and knowing that members of congress can sit here and ask questions that run the gamut and that funding question is related to those videos that are the genesis of the question of whether to defund then i think its naive of us to think that that discussion can be done in a vacuum without the videos and the other documents from the other side. If the gentlewoman would yield my time is up. Would you yield . In fairness to the gentlelady, im looking at the memorandum from the majority and it talks about background for this hearing and the first sentence says recently released video demonstrates the planned Parenthood Federation of america participates in transactions involving transferring fetal tissue for remuneration. Then it goes on. But let me very briefly so that the record is clear the jay lady referred to documents we had not received and id like to clear phi one point on record. On friday afternoon the republican staff informed democratic staff that mr. Daleiden sent them a package, a fed exbox that they said they didnt want to open until this week. We thought this was strange because if the republicans delayed opening this package members would not have had enough time to refute whatever was inside before todays hearing. So our staff also made it clear that if the republicans wanted to use any of this material at todays hearing it should be opened immediately on friday so we would begin to could begin reviewing it as soon as possible through the weekend but the republican staff told us that they wanted to just keep the box closed. They said they would not open it and they would not use it at the hearing. So as of this moment we still do not know for sure what is inside that box from mr. Daleiden, however, we did receive a copy of minutes from a recent hearing in a lawsuit in california in a lawsuit in california where his attorneys apparently told the court in that case, they delivered additional video footage to our committee so even more footage that he cut from the videos hes released publicly. We want to open the package. We want members to have equal access and we want to see what the other footage he was concealing from the public. And i yield back. I want to see all the videos too. Thats why we issued a subpoena. Wish you would have supported us us. Again f jvsksistently, we have asked we get all of the tapes and i will certainly if you give me a few minutes while others are asking questions, ill give you the documents we sent you assuring that. All right were going to go now to the gentleman from South Carolina for five minutes. I thank the chairman and ill try to make my colleagues happy and ask questions that have nothing to do with the videos. Which is more important to you, mrs. Richards, providing Womens Health Care Services or lobbying . I think these two things go hand in hand and certainly, what we have learned over the years that is that in order to be able to provide Health Care Services to women you have to be able to advocate particularly for women who are underserved. Fair enough. You spent 21 million on lobby ng the last couple of years. Zero on mammograms. Why is that . Weve discussed mammograms repeatedly and how Womens Health care works. When i got to my doctor, i get a breast exam. Why dont you do them . Were not a raid logical clinic. Why not . I guess we could take it up but i guess we could provide mammograms because we work in concert with folks you aware theres people running for president saying you do provide mammograms. There are a number of people running for president saying a lot of things that i cant certainly you said you dont make any money from federal funds right . Dont make any profit off federal funds . Planned parenthood is a National Office. We have one source of funding. A 21,000 grant for a Birth Control Clinical Trial where were reimbursed for costs alone. Thats only source of federal resources that come to the National Office. Wheres the 532 million going . So medicaid and title 10 so when you said you dont make any money off federal funds, you were talking about parent. I was trying to explain that the National Office, then there are, we have 59 affiliates. 650 to 750 Health Centers that provide Health Care Services. Is it your testimony that none of those make any profit off of federal funds . Well, i would have to, theyre all reimbursed for services they provide and my experience has been excuse me . That provides a profit. Were a nonprofit, so thats youre a nonprofit that made 127 million last year. We didnt make money. We actually reinvest money in Health Care Services and education and a lot of other things. But talk about that. To this one. That you dont make money, but you had revenues in excess of your expenses of 127 million last year. Thats right. Thats your testimony. Heres my question. Get to the question. Where does the money go . Where does the 127 million go zm. So like my organization of our size and scale a lot of our resources are in what is a board designated endowment reserve we have a 99yearold organization, so weve built our endowment, but also im investing in the private sense you would retain those. I hope theyre in the bank and not just laying around but in addition to that, some are in reserves and the others i just invested in expanding Health Care Services and building new clinics in a variety of states across the country. How is that not an expense . Well, it is. But your books reflect revenues in excess of expenses of 127 million. Im sorry, theyre not all out the door, but ive made committed to new Health Centers in new orleans dallas other states in the south. Opening in other states that i wont mention here probably cause more attention. Say that money goes toward expanding the service. One of the proposals here is to defund planned parenthood, which includes taking 60 million roughly 60 million away from what you get out of discretionary funding. If we took 60 million away you could still perform every Single Service you gave last year cant you . I cant say that. You said you have revenues in excess of 127 million. Now, you told me what you do spending expanding, i get that. But if you had 60 million less you could have provided every Single Service to every single woman you did last year. Well, i constantly raise money to expand services to the patiences that look to us. God bless you, thats great. But answer my question. You could have provided every service if you did not get a penny from the United Nations congress. I disagree. Theres no way i could agree to that. These are services spread out all across the country and i cant possibly account for how each dollar that i raise committed to other services and expansion of services could simply replace federal dollars. Talking about services you provided. You would have had 67 million. Were expanding services beyond. Got that. If we had not funded you, you would have been i think the answer is yes. You might not have been able to expand, but every single woman would have been served if you had not received that money from congress. I disagree, but were just trying to figure out why. Revenues would still exceed expenses. Even with 60 million less. So, do you want me to start are we now having this conversation . Im sorry, i wasnt sure if were finishing this . Sure. Zpl. I raise money every day to expand services and Education Services to people in america and like any other nonprofit, we reserve money for all kinds of services that need to be expanded. Assistance that needs to be provided. Were a nonprofit. We dont do anything else with our money other than put it back into the services the education and sometimes, the advocacy we provide. Now recognize the gentlewoman from new mexico for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Chairman and miss richards and if this committee is going to undertake how medicaid money is used and not used by every Health Care Provider in every state and local government in the United States it might be a very interesting hearing about how we can sure that the medicaid funds that are not reaching so many still eve within the progress of the Affordable Care act, so many women and so many families that would be a hearing that i think would be well worth having. Im going to go back to both the funding inging inging aspects, unintended consequences and really appreciate the comment of all of my colleagues, but mr. Welch and mr. Boyle, i served as the new mexico secretary of health and one of my challenges was certainly to deal with teen pregnancy. But to also make sure we had the right partnerships and viable access in the Public Health system where women and their families could get access to Health Care Services that were of High Quality Services they trust. I can tell you something you know that without planned parenthood, we could not meet those Access Points and quite frankly, even in the Public Health system, there are many women, particularly in rural and frontier areas of the state, who a, did not have access or would absolutely under no circumstances choose that access where id like to tell you their record about prevention and preventing pregnancy was better in the Public Health system and that was in a world where we didnt have the 2008 budget issues where our state now is not putting money into Public Health or expanding Public Health or working on Womens Health care and without the Affordable Care act our rural hospitals and Community Health centers would all but be closed and we now have the highest teen pregnancy rate in the country. What we can do for 15yearolds to prevent the second and third pregnancy. Women need and deserve unfettered, high quality confidential access to comprehensive Health Services and hooim im hear frg hundreds of constituents and i know that thousands of new mexico women and their families will not have access to these services because it is all connected and even if it wasnt, wed still want them to have the choices they make that are right for them. But with all of the funding issues that we debate in this congress, i know they dont have access in many of the places that they should and under the equal protection clause, they certainly ought to with medicaid funding. Can you talk a little bit more about what states like new mexico with these high teen pregnancy rates without Public Health access, without those rural Access Points where would those 21000 women go . Well, thank you for your service in the Public Health arena and your question. I think its important were constantly looking at new ways to help particularly young people access information and services and it sort of goes back to the chairmans question