Republican sees no government shutdown over Planned Parenthood funding

A Planned Parenthood chapter has filed a federal lawsuit against the acting director of Missouri’s health department to block the agency from revoking the abortion license for the group’s Columbia clinic.

Some Democrats have faulted the hot rhetoric slung by Republican lawmakers and presidential candidates against Planned Parenthood in recent months for inciting the kind of violence that occurred Friday in Colorado.

Planned Parenthood Southeast took Alabama to court after the Republican governor cut off Medicaid funds to the organization in the wake of undercover videos that anti-abortion activists say show the group’s personnel negotiating the sale of fetal organs.

“It is offensive and outrageous that some politicians are now claiming this tragedy has nothing to do with the toxic environment they helped create”, Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood, said in a statement.

Still, the videos have prompted five congressional investigations and more in the states – as well as an aggressive outreach from abortion opponents across the country to defund Planned Parenthood.

“We are pleased that Planned Parenthood can get back to its commitment to protecting access to care in the state of Alabama which remains its number one priority”, said Susan Watson, executive director of the Alabama ACLU, which represented Planned Parenthood in the suit.

Lankford said the shooting was unlikely to impact the debate this week on defunding Planned Parenthood. More than 100 House Republicans signed a letter opposing the inclusion of that funding in the spending bill.

Conservative House Republicans have said they want some “pro-life” language, such as limits on Planned Parenthood, in the funding bill in order for them to vote for it.

Emphasizing national security issues would keep Republicans on more comfortable ground than would a push to strip federal funding from Planned Parenthood.

“This was an extremist and this was a man who obviously – and they said prior to this that he was mentally disturbed so he’s a mentally disturbed person – there’s no question about that”, he continued. The presidential hopeful accused the public of using “typical left-wing tactics” to link the anti-abortion movement with the Planned Parenthood shooting.

McCarthy also said that after the terror attacks in Paris, “security is becoming the top issue” that he hears about from GOP colleagues. He suggested that refugee measure could be added to the government funding legislation, saying, “that bill needs to pass and become law whichever way it can”.