FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 7, 2016
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Yesterday, Marco Rubio joined anti-choice Senate leadership in voting for a Zika response bill that denies Americans the family planning resources they need to protect themselves and their future children from the Zika virus. The vote came on the same day that NARAL Pro-Choice America released an ad hitting Sen. Rubio for refusing to fund women’s health clinics and make reproductive healthcare accessible during the crisis. The World Health Organization, USAID, and the CDC have made it clear that contraception is an important part of an adequate response to Zika, but Marco Rubio has left American families with little more than bug spray as defense. Sen. Rubio has a long history of putting his extreme, anti-choice ideology ahead of the best interests of his constituents. NARAL Pro-Choice America board member and OBGYN Dr. Sara Imershein, MD, MPH, FACOG, issued the following statement in response to this irresponsible vote:
“I’m a doctor and Marco Rubio is a politician. Trust me, when it comes to public health emergencies we should listen to medical professionals, not politicians–and especially not politicians trying to appease far right-wing special interest groups rather than help women and families. Sen. Rubio is trying to have it both ways when it comes to Zika: he says he is working to pass the necessary funding bills while at the same time he’s standing with the Republican Party and stalling the bill over Planned Parenthood funding.
“Sen. Rubio and his Republican colleagues should accept scientific wisdom and the overwhelming public consensus that family planning clinics are vital to addressing the Zika outbreak. If Sen. Rubio really wants to be a leader on this health crisis, he will let Florida women and families make their own decisions about their reproductive health care–including abortion–without interference from politicians like him.”
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