A day after House Speaker Paul Ryan promised the House would vote to defund Planned Parenthood, the women’s health organization delivered 87,000 #IStandWithPP petitions to his office, urging him not to do so.
We just went to @SpeakerRyan's office to deliver 86,739 #IStandWithPP petitions from folks telling him not to defund Planned Parenthood… pic.twitter.com/EhzzDKzrZb
— Planned Parenthood Action (@PPact) January 6, 2017
In response, Planned Parenthood says Ryan’s office sent six security guards to block the delivery.
.@SpeakerRyan's office sent 6 security guards to block delivery of 87K #IStandWithPP petitions telling Ryan not to defund Planned Parenthood pic.twitter.com/56QHwhjR2q
— Planned Parenthood Action (@PPact) January 6, 2017
Shortly after the security guards came, Planned Parenthood tweeted that the speaker’s office was suddenly, “conveniently” closed.
.@SpeakerRyan's office is appointments-only & conveniently closed now—right when we came by to drop off thousands of #IStandWithPP petitions pic.twitter.com/wCqOjzZION
— Planned Parenthood Action (@PPact) January 6, 2017
Eventually, Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wisconsin) opened up her office doors to allow the petitions to be delivered.
.@SpeakerRyan wouldn't listen to the thousands of people who say #IStandWithPP—but #reprohealth champ @RepGwenMoore opened her doors to us! pic.twitter.com/seHrZJoxZw
— Planned Parenthood Action (@PPact) January 6, 2017
Petitioning the government is a First Amendment right. The White House clearly states, “If you gather 100,000 signature in 30 days, we’ll review your petition, make sure it gets in front of the appropriate policy experts, and issue an official response.”