LUMINEERS PONY UP FOR PLANNED PARENTHOOD

Planned Parenthood seems to have few fans in the White House and in the Texas state government, but The Lumineers are rallying around the nonprofit health organization. They've pledged to donate the profits from their 2/28 gig at the Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie, near Dallas, Texas, to Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas.

Planned Parenthood has become a political football in the Lone Star State, which wanted to block the public health provider from receiving Medicaid funding, but this week a federal judge temporarily barred state from doing so.

“When my wife was a teen and young adult, Planned Parenthood provided her not only with free/affordable cancer screenings, contraceptives and annual checkups, but also with the education and tools to help make smart decisions regarding her health,” said Lumineers' lead singer Wesley Schultz. “The reality for her was that Planned Parenthood was her only real way to get legitimate and affordable healthcare. To read news stories about attempts to defund this same healthcare in Texas for so many women (and men) is disturbing and has moved us to act.”