Gabrielle Union has become one of the few celebrity voices speaking out on behalf of the Congressional campaign to defund Planned Parenthood. No matter what you believe about abortion, 97% of what Planned Parenthood does has nothing to do with abortion. It provides basic, affordable health care to lots of women who would otherwise not get any. This is not rocket science. This is an assault on women.

Here’s what Union said:

Planned Parenthood is providing vaccines, cervical cancer screenings, 830,000 breast exams, STD screenings and (overall) half-a-million HIV screenings. The way people are focusing now on Planned Parenthood is like they are taking one piece and deciding that the whole thing is bad, and that’s just not the case.

The reality of what Planned Parenthood is doing is trying to increase the number of planned pregnancies and give women the options of planning out their pregnancies by way of contraception.

That is the bulk of what Planned Parenthood is doing.

For a lot of women, the last stop for affordable health care and acceptable health care is Planned Parenthood. It’s the place that a lot of people go to, certainly minorities, because you know it’s the one place where you’re not getting turned away when you’re asking questions about reproductive care.

If we provide more access to quality and affordable contraception, and information, you’re going to see those numbers go down across the board and not just in terms of the African-American community.

For women, and for society at large, we should care that Planned Parenthood’s funding could get cut. If you look at the fact that a good chunk of the women that go to Planned Parenthood receive federal funding anyway and you realize this is where they’re turning to go … if you eliminate Planned Parenthood, think of all the STDs that will be spread, all of the women who won’t be receiving preventative health care in terms of breast cancer, cervical cancer. Think of all the women who wouldn’t get reproductive health and information. Cutting Planned Parenthood’s funding does such a disservice to our already underserved community.

This should be the last place that should be cut.

One in five women will visit a Planned Parenthood at some point in their lifetime. We cannot eliminate the funding. It does not make good sense, it doesn’t make good business sense, it doesn’t make moral sense or health sense.

Read full statement here.

For you to get involved got to I Stand With Planned Parenthood and sign the petition