Despite pleas from their constituents, Republicans in Congress are set on taking away health care options. They particularly are looking for any excuse to take funding away from Planned Parenthood, which provides critical preventative care that helps keep millions of women, many of whom are dependent on safety-net providers, healthy.

Today, Bridge Project released a new report, “Hands Off Our Care,” which explains why the Republican solution to the problem of their own making – that community health centers can take over Planned Parenthood services – is simply wrong.

“Not only is the GOP endangering the lives of Americans with their promise to take funding from women’s health clinics, but their excuse is based on nothing but smoke and mirrors,” said American Bridge President Jessica Mackler. “If Republicans had their way, women around the country would not only lose access to trusted clinics and doctors, but in some cases, they would lose access to the only care they have. They should be ashamed.”

Community health centers have neither the capacity nor do they offer all the contraceptive care options that Planned Parenthood clinics offer.  We know how the closure of a Planned Parenthood negatively impacts a community because we’ve seen the effects already. Public health officials who have witnessed Planned Parenthood’s absence in their communities have said that the loss of Planned Parenthood have hurt thousands of women. The hardest hit are low-income women, families already struggling to make ends meet and women of color.