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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
| State Rep. Dan Frankel |
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Frankel denounces newest Pa. attack on women's rights
HARRISBURG, May 23 – State Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Allegheny, denounced what he calls the latest attack on women's rights in Pennsylvania. Today, a bill was introduced that would ban Planned Parenthood and prevent many other family planning clinics statewide from receiving any family planning funding, funding for cervical cancer and breast cancer screening or money to test for sexually transmitted infections that is distributed by the state Department of Health.
Frankel, an outspoken critic of the ongoing legislative agenda related to restricting women’s health care, immediately voiced his opposition to the bill introduced today by Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler.
"The right-wing Republicans that control their party’s agenda want to control women’s basic health care, even down to telling them where they can get their annual cancer screenings," Frankel said. "To my mind, this is just one more battle in the Republican war on women."
Frankel continued, "The names of these bills always put women first: The Women’s Right to Know Act, The Whole Woman’s Health Funding Priorities Act. But let’s be honest, these bills don’t put women first. They put the Republican agenda first; so, let’s give them their real names:
"The Republicans Promote Invasive Procedures Act.
"Rep. Metcalfe’s Priorities for Women’s Health.
"Now the legislation sounds as absurd as it is. The last time I checked, Rep. Metcalfe was neither a doctor, nor a nurse, nor a woman. Most Pennsylvanians know that being a member of the extreme right wing of the Republican Party does not qualify you to set the priorities for women’s health."
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