During a fast fundraising stop in Miami, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton made an appearance at Borinquen Clinic, a community health center on the front lines of the growing Zika epidemic, and urged Congress to return for a special session and “get a bill passed.”
Their main objection? The bill restricted funding for the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood. Instead, the bill allocated $40 million for comprehensive community Health Centers like Borinquen, which offer a much wider range of services than the abortion giant does. Mrs. Clinton demands that Congress return and cobble together a new compromise that includes Planned Parenthood, no matter how long it might take.
Here in Miami we are awash in mosquitoes, as we are every August and September. It’s amazing to us (and terrifying) to watch a politician who may be our president in a few months putting a special budget carve out for Planned Parenthood ahead of our safety and that of our children.
SIGN THE PETITION! Congress Must De-Fund Planned Parenthood Immediately
It is especially surprising to find her putting the abortion retail chain ahead of Zika prevention after the scandal-plagued year Planned Parenthood has had. Shocking numbers have been aired for the public, like the number of abortions Planned Parenthood performs (more than 300,000 in 2013-14) and the amount of federal and state money they receive (over $500 million a year). We’ve also learned that – contrary to Planned Parenthood propaganda – they don’t perform any mammogram.
None of these facts deter Clinton and the Democrats from standing proudly by the abortion chain. If there is money to be given out to clinics like Borinquen, then Planned Parenthood must get its cut. Meanwhile, Zika prevention languishes.
This is what we need urgently: ground spraying of pesticides; aerial spraying; door to door searches for standing water; vaccine development; testing centers; education campaigns. All these things are terribly expensive, but there is no reason why a wealthy country like ours cannot respond quickly and efficiently during a public health crisis of this magnitude. No reason, perhaps, besides politicians deeply beholden to a powerful abortion industry with an aggressive and wily lobbying arm.
We have over 300 pregnant women infected by Zika being monitored by the CDC in the U.S. One baby has just died in Texas. Women in Miami who are eager to grow their families are scared and anxious. While it is less important in the great scheme of things, much of the hard working populace gets their bread from tourism, and the CDC has issued a travel advisory for part of Miami.
My hope is Clinton, while being whisked from car to campaign stop to fundraising dinner, was able to get a whiff of the stifling heat and humidity of Miami that mosquitoes love. If so, she may feel the urgency we are feeling as we watch this crisis develop around us.
LifeNews Note: Pozo Christie specializes in radiology in the Miami area and serves on the advisory board for The Catholic Association.
