In the aftermath of the Senate’s derailing of Republican legislation halting federal dollars for Planned Parenthood, one thing seems clear: Many on both sides think they can ring up gains from the battle.
By Alan Fram, Displayed with permission from The Washington Times
August 4, 2015: Within minutes of Monday’s Senate vote, pro-choice groups were releasing TV ads attacking GOP supporters of the measure for trying to stop women from getting health care.
Conservatives were accusing Democrats of voting to protect taxpayer funds for an organization who may be engaging in reprehensible activities and whose campaign contributions tilt lopsidedly to Democratic candidates.
And each party was bracing for the fight to be revisited when Congress returns in September from its recess.
The Republican drive was prompted by videos secretly recorded by pro-life activists that show Planned Parenthood officials coolly describing how they provide fetal tissue to medical researchers.
Pro-life groups say the recordings caught Planned Parenthood illegally selling the organs for profit and haggling over prices, while Planned Parenthood – while apologizing for the tone of their workers’ businesslike words – say they’ve abided by laws that let them recoup the procedures’ costs.
Monday’s 53-46 vote was taken to halt Senate Democratic delaying tactics aimed at killing the GOP bill. Supporters of the measure fell seven votes short of the 60 needed to keep the measure moving toward passage.
Senate Democrats Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and Illinois Republican Mark Kirk, who faces a tough re-election fight next year, crossed party lines in the roll call. So did Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, who voted with victorious Democrats because it will let him force a fresh vote later. Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, a presidential candidate, was in New Hampshire and didn’t vote.
Republicans expected to lose but envisioned political gain because the videos have fired up conservative, pro-life voters.
Underscoring that, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Center, said Congress “must take the next step” and end Planned Parenthood funding when lawmakers return next month.
That’s when lawmakers will consider legislation keeping government agencies open after their budgets expire Oct. 1. Conservatives see that as an opportunity to keep money for Planned Parenthood out of those bills, though GOP leaders, concerned that their party could be blamed, would prefer to avoid a government shutdown battle with President Obama.
Mr. Obama is a staunch supporter of abortion rights. The White House issued no statement on the Senate vote.
The Republican measure calls for funneling Planned Parenthood’s federal dollars to some 9,000 providers of non-abortion health care to women, including hospitals, state and local agencies and federally financed community health centers.
Planned Parenthood and its allies say that would mean that many of its 2.7 million annual clients – including low-income women – would lose health care. Republicans counter that the 9,000 other health care providers vastly outnumber Planned Parenthood clinics and can easily absorb displaced patients.
National Right to Life President Carol Tobias said the movement against Planned Parenthood was gaining strength, calling it “a long-term project” and describing Planned Parenthood as “a major backer of many Democratic senators.”
According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Planned Parenthood’s campaign spending in the 2014 elections included $4.2 million in outside spending – which it used nearly exclusively to support Democrats or oppose GOP candidates.
Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said Monday’s vote showed the bill was “a political nonstarter.” Acknowledging that Republicans may continue the battle, she said: “This fight may not be over, but we’re ready for it.”
A Planned Parenthood ally, NARAL Pro-Choice America, said it would run TV ads this week attacking three GOP senators seeking re-election in 2016: Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Rob Portman of Ohio and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.
“It’s clear Senator Ayotte should not be trusted with women’s health,” the New Hampshire ad says.
The House is expected to vote on legislation ending Planned Parenthood’s federal aid when Congress returns.
It is also planning to hold investigative hearings in the harvesting and distribution of post-abortion fetal body parts.
The pro-life Center for Medical Progress has released four videos in which people posing as representatives of a company that purchases fetal tissue converse with Planned Parenthood officials. The videos have had impact because of the casual descriptions by the Planned Parenthood officials of the abortion procedures they use to obtain tissue, and because they show people picking through fetal remains looking for human eyeballs, hearts, livers and other marketable tissue.
Planned Parenthood says it gives fetal tissue to researchers only with a mother’s advance consent and does so in fewer than five states.
Some members of Congress believe women have no idea what they are consenting to and if they knew that their aborted child would be dissected and sold for parts, like a used car, after the abortion, they might not agree.
Planned Parenthood receives more than $500 million yearly in government funds – including state payments – more than one-third of its annual $1.3 billion in revenue. By law, federal funds cannot be used for abortions except for cases of incest, rape or when a woman’s life is in danger. Opponents say Planned Parenthood’s abortion operation greatly benefits from the federal infusions.
On Monday, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal announced that the state was cancelling Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid contract. State health officials believe Planned Parenthood could be breaking laws, said Mr. Jindal, a Republican presidential candidate, and other clinics and health centers can provide health services to women.
At least nine other states are investigating Planned Parenthood in the wake of the videos from Center for Medical Progress.
The pro-life group, led by David Daleiden, has several more undercover videos to release. At least two are temporarily blocked from release by court order.
