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REMARKS BY:		DONNA E. SHALALA, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
PLACE:			Planned Parenthood Federation, Nashville, Tennessee
DATE:			November 15, 1996

Actually, last spring I had the pleasure of introducing Gloria at a reception welcoming her to Washington. I told the audience that evening that she had been described as "Texas tough and Wall Street smart." And then I pointed out that, in Washington, she would need both. Well, in the last five months - - she has done it.

Armed with the lessons she learned as a young mother and her years of experience working for Planned Parenthood, Gloria is continuing the visionary fight for our families that Margaret Sanger so courageously began.

In 1920, Margaret Sanger said, "We gather perfect fruit from perfect trees."

My friends at Planned Parenthood -- that's what you have always done. For more than 80 years you've worked hard, very hard, to bring forth perfect fruit. And you have won big for the families of America, in the courts, in the halls of Congress, and in the streets.

Because of you, we all have more than good families and good food to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Eighty years ago, who would have thought that we would have a President and a Vice- President willing to fight courageously to protect reproductive freedom; fight courageously to protect the right of women and men to plan their families and control their futures; fight courageously for the Violence Against Women Act and the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act; and fight courageously to remove that awful Gag Rule that once violated the sacred doctor- patient relationship and put women's health in jeopardy.

Eighty years ago, who would have thought that women from around the world -- women of different religions and cultures -- would gather in Beijing to say that human rights equal women's rights, that all women should be able to control their reproductive future and live in dignity, free from violence and intimidation.

But let me remind you: Eighty years of achievement, eighty years of fighting and winning has brought us victories.

But not victory.

My friends, this fight -- our fight -- is not over!

Yes, we have a pro-choice President and we should be proud of that! We have a President who used, and will continue to use, his veto pen to stand up for family planning, women's health and reproductive freedom.

Because while the other side still has anti-choice majorities in both houses -- we must remember, they are not veto- proof majorities, and we will not let them take us back.

We've been down this road before.

When our opponents in the 104th Congress tried to completely eliminate Title X in the 1996 budget. We said no. When they tried to tell poor women who are victims -- let me repeat victims -- of rape and incest: You are on your own. We said no. And when they tried to take away Medicaid's historic guarantee of health care for millions of children, pregnant women and other vulnerable citizens. We said no.

We said we are not going back.

We are not going back to the days when our ability to control our own bodies depended on the size of our wallets.

We are not going back to the fear, pain, injury and death of back alley abortions. We are not going back to the days when a tiny vocal minority could keep safe and effective drugs out of the hands of families. And we are not going back to second class citizenship -- to what the poet Sylvia Plath called the "boot in the face."

We saw -- the world saw -- the terrible tragedies in Pensacola and Brookline.

But out of view of the TV cameras, many of you -- and your staffs -- put your lives on the line every day for the fundamental right of families to control their own health. Our Administration applauds your courage and we will always stand with you.

How?

By making it clear that Title X has nothing to do with paying for abortions and everything to with providing critical services like contraceptives, pap smears, breast exams, STD screening, and HIV testing. By making it clear that family planning saves millions of health care dollars, and means fewer abortions and more disease prevention. And by making it clear that we not only refuse to go back -- we are unapologetically moving forward.

We're moving forward with a strong message of abstinence and a strategy to prevent non-marital teen births that is paying off. According to preliminary data, births to teenagers 15 to 19 dropped in the U.S. for the fourth straight year. And the birth rate for unmarried women dropped between 1994 and 1995 for the first time in almost 20 years.

We're moving forward with a request for an increase in next year's Title X budget. We're moving forward by making it clear that international family planning is the right thing to do for families and for the world. We have long supported, and will continue to support, international family planning and sustainable development, and promote the goals of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo.

And we're moving forward by always -- always -- putting the health of families first. That means, as the President has said, keeping abortion safe, legal and rare. It means working to end once and for all the horror and sheer inhumanity of female genital mutilation.

It means making sure that every child that comes into this world is wanted, cared for, and loved. It means using the steady engine of research to expand and inprove contraceptive choices for women and men. It means promoting adoptions through tax credits and federal support. It means ensuring that managed care becomes an opportunity, not an obstacle, to deliver low cost, high quality reproductive care. And it means fighting domestic violence with tougher penalties, more community policing and shelters, and now a toll-free national hotline that women can call anytime from anywhere.

With AIDS the fourth leading cause of death among women 26 to 44, putting the health of families first means more than developing a vaccine and getting promising new drugs to families in need, though we must do just that.

It also means investing $100 million over the next four years in a new effort to develop a female microbicide, and helping pregnant women prevent the perinatal transmission of HIV to their infants. And that's exactly what we're doing.

And putting the health of families first means putting an end to the violence and harassment and intimidation that have plagued our clinics and the families they serve. The fact is, no women seeking reproductive services, and no clinic worker, should ever have to face the kind of terrorist violence we saw in Pensacola and Brookline. Families should be able to make their most fundamental, most personal decisions in privacy.

That's what RU 486 and other new drug combinations will do -- give families the ability to take abortion out of the public spotlight.

This will be a fundamental change.

Think about it.

It could mean: No more traveling to another county -- or state -- to find abortion services. No more interference between a woman and her doctor. No more violence. No more fear. But, the battles we have waged are not just about family planning and health. They are about helping us build strong families.

Gloria, herself, has said that the real message the voters sent last week was that they want the President and Congress to "work together to promote strong healthy families."

I think Gloria is exactly right.

Protecting families is not a Republican or Democratic problem -- it's a problem for all of us. But, have you noticed - - it's a little hard not to -- how the opponents of family planning and reproductive freedom are always calling themselves "pro-family?"

The fact is: family planning is pro-family.

Family planning is family building, family preservation, and family success, and that is what our Administration is always fighting for in everything we do. Because, when we fight for Family and Medical Leave, we are pro-family.

When we protect the Earned Income Tax Credit that has pulled millions of working families out of poverty, we are pro-family.

When we raise the minimum wage to $5.15 an hour -- giving full time minimum wage workers an $1800 annual pay increase, we are pro-family.

When we invest more in Head Start, child care, education and the environment, we are pro-family.

And when we fight to move women from welfare to work, helping them get the child care, training and health care they need to achieve independence; and not only find jobs -- but keep them, we are pro-family.

Let me be clear: We are 100% committed to implementing the new welfare bill the right way -- and coming back to change those parts of the bill that have nothing to do with reforming welfare.

I know that Planned Parenthood has had a long commitment to welfare reform -- and I know that in a very personal way.

My friend Frankie Stein got her first Planned Parenthood job in 1968 under a Labor Department contract called "New Careers for the Poor." That contract gave courageous young women entry level jobs in Planned Parenthood medical centers, and helped pay for their education while they were working.

Everyone benefitted.

And that's what welfare reform must be all about -- about government joining with the private sector to strengthen our country by helping families make it on their own.

Because as you know better than anyone, government cannot do this job alone. All of us need to work together -- parents, teachers, coaches, the media, religious organizations, government, Planned Parenthood affiliates and every other non- profit -- to fight for the health of families here and abroad.

I will never forget when I went to the International Women's Conference in Beijing in 1995. I was on my way to hear First Lady Hilary Rodham Clinton speak to NGOs in Hairou -- a speech that turned out to be one of the highlights of the conference.

I almost missed it.

There I was, standing drenched in the pouring rain, when we were confronted by Chinese guards determined to keep us out of the auditorium. Well, I don't think they were counting on a Wisconsin Badger. I've seen enough Wisconsin football victories to know how to throw a block.

When they pushed us, we pushed back.

And, we got in.

Those of us who have dedicated our lives to promoting family planning and protecting reproductive freedom have overcome far bigger obstacles. And we will again. But only if we join hands and push forward despite the setbacks, despite the obstacles. And, only if we reach out to men, especially young men, and help them understand that this is their fight too.

Let me close where I began.

Remember what Margaret Sanger said: We gather perfect fruit from perfect trees. That means we create heroes from heroes -- and courage from courage. And no one has shown greater courage than you. All of us stand on Margaret Sanger's shoulders, but families around the world stand on yours.

And I thank you.