State Sen. José Rodríguez’s statement on HHS hearing about secretly recorded video of women’s health providers

Austin – The Texas Senate Health and Human Services Committee today heard information about secretly recorded videos that purported to possibly show illegal activity at Planned Parenthood facilities. State Sen. José Rodríguez, a member of the committee, released the following statement regarding the hearing:

The public deserves a full and fair investigation from their representatives, and if someone has violated the law they should be held accountable. We should be clear, however, that at this point we have seen only selectively edited videos. Even with editing to paint the worst possible picture, the videos released so far show no illegal activity on the part of Planned Parenthood. In fact, at this point it seems far more likely that the video producers themselves are the ones who have broken the law, by creating false identifications and by violating the medical privacy of patients and providers.

What is clear thus far is this is about creating the public sentiment to support further infringements upon women’s legal rights to control their own health care decisions. As the Attorney General said in testimony – even if his investigation should conclude that no laws were broken, the larger issue at hand is ‘the institution of abortion.’ Abortion opponents want to roll back the clock to a time when women were not allowed to make that choice. In the end, that is what this is about.

Abortion is a wrenching personal decision, one of the most difficult I can imagine a woman ever making. It is legal, and it is private. I support a woman’s right to make this decision, and I will fight to keep it both legal and private.   

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José Rodríguez represents Texas Senate District 29, which includes the counties of El Paso, Hudspeth, Culberson, Jeff Davis, and Presidio. He represents both urban and rural constituencies, and more than 350 miles of the Texas-Mexico border. Senator Rodríguez currently serves as the Chairman of the Senate Hispanic Caucus, and is a member of the Senate Committees on Education; Health and Human Services; Veteran Affairs and Military Installations; Nominations; and Agriculture, Water, and Rural Affairs. 

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