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 Senate Democrats succeeded in stopping the bill on a procedural
vote. Sixty votes were needed to advance it in the 100-person
chamber. It received 53 votes, with 46 senators opposing it.
Planned Parenthood, which provides healthcare services to millions
of women at hundreds of centers nationwide, has come under attack
with the online posting of hidden-camera videos produced by an
anti-abortion group, Center for Medical Progress.
The group has said the videos show Planned Parenthood officials
negotiating prices for fetal tissue from abortions it performs.
Planned Parenthood has denied any wrongdoing and has said it does
not profit from fetal tissue donation.
Under U.S. law, donated human fetal tissue may be used for research,
but profiting from its sale is prohibited.
Republicans are likely to try again in September to stop Planned
Parenthood from getting federal funds, which currently amounts to
more than $500 million a year.
After a congressional recess in August, conservative Republicans
could try to attach their defunding measure to a bill to fund the
government, raising the prospect of a possible government shutdown
over the issue.
ANGRY DEMOCRATS
The Republicans' efforts have intensified America's long-running
debate about abortion just as the 2016 presidential campaign is
getting under way. Those efforts have angered many Democrats.
The legislation was "just one more piece of a deliberate,
methodical, orchestrated, right-wing attack on women's rights. And
I'm sick and tired of it," Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said.
"Women everywhere are sick and tired of it. The American people are
sick and tired of it."
"I want to say to my Republican colleagues, the year is 2015, not
1955 and not 1895," Warren added.
Two Democrats, Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Joe
Donnelly of Indiana, broke ranks and supported the defunding effort.
"I do not believe that taxpayer money should be used to fund this
organization; instead those funds should be sent to other healthcare
providers," Manchin in a statement.
The legislation's main sponsor was freshman Republican Senator Joni
Ernst of Iowa.
"The question before us today is clear: Who do we want to be as a
nation? It is hard for anyone to defend these morally reprehensible
videos, as Planned Parenthood callously harvested the organs of
unborn babies, to be sold at a price," Ernst said.
Just one Senate Republican, Mark Kirk of Illinois, who faces a tough
re-election race next year, voted against advancing the bill.
MILLIONS RELY ON PLANNED PARENTHOOD
Planned Parenthood gets up to $500 million per year in Medicaid
contributions, and up to $60 million in federal funds for family
planning services. U.S. law tightly restricts applying federal funds
to abortions.
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Millions of women, many young and single, rely on Planned Parenthood
for healthcare beyond abortions and family planning, including
breast and cervical cancer screenings.
Young, single women are a key demographic for Hillary Clinton, the
front-runner to represent the Democratic Party in the November 2016
presidential election.
Clinton has called the online videos "disturbing," while also saying
it was "regrettable" that Republicans, allied with
anti-abortionists, were trying to cut off funding.
In the videos, anti-abortion activists posed as researchers trying
to obtain fetal tissue and, using hidden cameras, interviewed
Planned Parenthood officials about potential costs.
In San Francisco on Monday, a federal judge extended a temporary
restraining order that stops the group from releasing the videos
pending an Aug. 27 hearing. An abortion providers group sued to
block the release on privacy grounds.
Brian Chavez-Ochoa, a lawyer for Center for Medical Progress, said
his clients have footage that has nothing to do with the plaintiff
in the case, the National Abortion Federation, and is not covered by
the judge’s injunction.
In Louisiana, Governor Bobby Jindal, one of many seeking the
Republican presidential nomination, said on Monday his state was
terminating its Medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood.
Three Republican senators seeking the nomination, Texas' Ted Cruz,
Kentucky's Rand Paul and Florida's Marco Rubio, voted on Monday in
favor of advancing the bill to defund Planned Parenthood. A fourth,
South Carolina's Lindsey Graham, was absent.
(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan and Alex Wilts in Washington
and Dan Levine in San Francisco; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Tom
Brown and Leslie Adler)
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