When the House voted to defund Planned Parenthood and cut all funding to clinics that provide women’s health services, the stirring speeches of two women, Rep. Gwen Moore and Rep. Jackie Speier, went viral. This afternoon, it was the Senate’s turn.
Before them: A budget from House Republicans that would eliminate Title X funding for women’s health, contraceptive, and sex education services and make deep cuts in Head Start and maternal healthcare programs.
True, there were no personal revelations in the upper chamber, but it was still pretty great to watch the Democratic women of the Senate band together and go into fight mode. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York was particularly fiery. Sadly, we missed the speech of elder stateswoman Barbara Mikulski, who led the effort, but we’ll update with video when we have it. (Sen. Frank Lautenberg also chimed in with a live reading off a giant construction-paper ladybug and called himself a “professional grandfather,” but we’ll spare you that part.)