Senate blocks GOP bill to end Planned Parenthood fed funds

Anti-abortion activists hold a rally opposing federal funding for Planned Parenthood in front of the U.S. Capitol on July 28, 2015. Conservatives were accusing Democrats of voting to protect taxpayer funds for an organization whose campaign contributions tilt lopsidedly to Democratic candidates.

The issue is likely to come up again when Congress returns from its August recess.

Senate Democrats on Monday blocked a Republican effort to strip federal funding from Planned Parenthood following the release of undercover videos that have raised questions about the organization’s harvesting of fetal tissue for research laboratories.

The center and some of its GOP supporters have said the videos show Planned Parenthood sells the tissue for profit, which is illegal under federal law. At least 60 votes were needed to overcome a filibuster. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said he would back the Republican legislation. Rand Paul, a 2016 Republican presidential candidate, told CNN on Sunday.

Republicans expected to lose but envisioned political gain because the videos have fired up their core conservative, anti-abortion voters.

But Manchin’s vote in favor was balanced by several Republicans who said they were anxious about withdrawing funding for Planned Parenthood’s other services, especially contraception. Federal agencies run out of money on October. 1, and Congress is tasked with passing legislation by then temporarily keeping the doors open until lawmakers and President Barack Obama can reach a longer-term agreement. After the vote, the Alaska Democratic Party issued a statement headlined “Murkowski Abandons Alaska Women”.

Planned Parenthood also provides health care for 3 million Americans a year, offering cancer screenings, contraceptives and medical treatment, including for low-income women who have few other health care alternatives.

Critics of the legislation said, however, that many of those centers don’t provide the same kind of prenatal and other services that Planned Parenthood does and many are in already medically underserved areas, including in Iowa.

It is through the mechanism of Medicaid-whose funding is controlled through the states-that some red state governors have begun their own efforts to defund abortion providers. We’re going to fight.

Despite the controversy, 45 percent of Americans polled by NBC and the Wall Street Journal said they viewed Planned Parenthood somewhat or very positively and 20 percent said they were neutral.

“It’s clear Senator Ayotte should not be trusted with women’s health”, the New Hampshire ad says.

The group says the videos show Planned Parenthood officials negotiating prices for fetal tissue from abortions it performs.

Well, in New Jersey, we spend hundreds of millions of dollars on federally qualified health clinics all across the state, we expanded Medicaid more to provided health care to women who need it. None of that has anything to do with Planned Parenthood. “I believe that human life is a gift, which is why I am adamantly pro-life and have consistently opposed taxpayer dollars being used to fund abortions”.