Reed Discusses ACA, Planned Parenthood At Rowdy Town Hall Meetings
NORTH HARMONY – While the phrase “town hall meeting” brings to mind a few folks gathered in a dusty hall, Saturday’s gathering was anything but.
A large crowd gathered outside the North Harmony Senior Citizens Center for U.S. Rep. Tom Reed’s first town hall meeting of the day as protesters and attendees waited to hear what the congressman had to say and share their own input. The crowd, numbering in the hundreds, had to be relocated outside due to the size of the gathering.
Due to the event being moved outside, it was difficult to hear. At first, no amplifier system was in place, however, one was brought out before the congressman arrived. Despite the addition of a microphone, Reed often competed with the noise of the crowd.
When Reed arrived, he thanked the crowd for attending and invited them to share their opinions with him.
“I truly do believe you have to listen to people if you’re going to represent people,” Reed said.
The crowd yelled out several topics throughout the event for Reed to cover, such as repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, defunding Planned Parenthood and President Donald Trump’s tax returns.
“I hear some sentiment that the act was broken, the act wasn’t working and you want us to fix it,” Reed said. “What we want to do is replace it with a health care system that works better for all Americans.”
He was then greeted with loud shouts of opposition.
Later on, Reed clarified that he is not advocating to go back to the way things were before the Affordable Care Act. An audience member shouted, “You’re talking repeal and replace.”
“We listen to you, and what we want to do is go forward,” Reed said, “and look for an opportunity for reforms that are going to improve health care for all. Concrete examples are refundable tax credits, health saving accounts that allow you to use your money to buy the plans that work for you, and we’ve looked at situations like medicaid expansion to make sure medicaid is there.”
A crowd member then brought up Planned Parenthood, saying that the idea that women only go to the organization for abortions is “ludicrous” because Planned Parenthood provides prenatal care, cancer screening and other services.
“If you do away with Planned Parenthood and that funding, what you’re going to see is a spike in births, you’re going to see illegal abortions which are going to kill women and the fetuses,” she said. “It’s a ridiculous stance.”
The crowd cheered and clapped afterward, pausing for Reed to respond. He said he does not attempt to “dance around” positions when he has them.
“I do not support taxpayer-funded paying of abortion,” he said.
Another member of the crowd roared, “They don’t do that. It’s already illegal and it’s already not being done.”
A young woman addressed the congressman later, saying, “Congressman, you said that you support abortion in the case of rape – does a woman really have to be raped in order to have control over her body?”
Reed said it is a very difficult issue.
“I respect rape, incest and life of the mother exceptions,” he said. “But to have an honest conversation with you about this issue, where do you draw the line for the voice of the body within the womb?”
The young woman replied that she draws the line when the fetus is dependent on the mother’s bloodline to survive, and that it is the mother’s choice.
“There is a voice there that needs to have a voice in Washington and for our government,” he said. “What I would love to be able to do is have a conversation about preventing that situation and contraception.”
It was then brought up that Reed supports reducing unwanted pregnancies but wants to defund Planned Parenthood, which to some appears to be inconsistent with his position.
“Could we not find a solution to this problem?” he asked. “I would hope that people at Planned Parenthood hear this message loud and clear here publicly and as I have delivered privately: Can we separate out those two entities?”
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A member of the crowd then asked why the government could attempt to control women’s bodies but could not ask for the president’s tax returns.
“The response to the question regarding controlling the body is we’re also stepping up for the body of the child that is within the womb,” Reed said.
There were also questions raised regarding the relationship of President Trump and Russia, which Reed said the president said there was “nothing there.”
“But I will tell you this, it doesn’t mean that issue is going away,” he said. “I think we’re going to have a very transparent process when it comes to that.”
After several petitions of “Trump’s taxes,” from the crowd, Reed did address his position on forcing President Trump to reveal his tax returns.
“That’s a tremendous amount of power for the government to come after one individual,” he said. “Obviously, you disagree with my position on that, and I respect that. I respect your disagreement.”
He was met with yells of “Shame on you,” followed by a question, “How do you sleep at night, Mr. Reed?” Then a chant began of “We are the government,” to which Reed replied, “Amen. And we make sure the government is held in check because the government has a tremendous amount of power, and I think it has too much power today.”
Reed held another meeting later on in the day in Cherry Creek.
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