U.S. House Amends Budget, Removes Funding for Planned Parenthood WASHINGTON — Anti-abortion lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives inserted a provision into the pending 2011 spending bill Friday that blocks all federal funding for Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest reproductive health organization. They argue that tax funds shouldn't go toward terminating pregnancies.
The amendment, sponsored by 6th District Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., passed on a vote of 240-185, generally along party lines. All but seven Republicans voted for the cut; 10 Democrats also supported the measure. All local lawmakers supported the defunding measure.
The provision is now part of broader legislation that establishes appropriations for the remainder of the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.
Should the spending measure pass, it will head to the Senate where Democrats, who form the majority, are expected to reject the abortion language as well as most of the spending proposals aimed at slicing tens of billions of dollars from the budget.
Planned Parenthood is the nation's largest abortion provider and has received federal support over the years to provide affordable health care services such as cancer screenings, birth control, HIV screening and testing and treatment for other sexually transmitted infections.
Current law specifically prohibits Planned Parenthood from using tax monies to fund abortions. But Pence and other conservatives have long maintained that the federal support simply frees the organization to shift other available funds to terminate pregnancies.
The move could wind up costing Planned Parenthood $330 million through the end of the fiscal year.
Rep. Larry Bucshon, R-Ind., asserted in a floor speech that "abortion under any situation is wrong" and that "federal taxpayers should not be asked to subsidize these actions."
As a physician, Bucshon said, he performed life-saving surgery on infants as young as 22 weeks gestation at birth.
"I've held these lives in my own hands; they're viable human lives at birth," the 8th District representative said. "Unfortunately Planned Parenthood uses taxpayer funds to cut these lives short, tragically sometimes within weeks of medically proven viability outside the womb."
Rep. Todd Young, R-Ind., who represents the 9th District, said "most Americans agree that tax dollars should not be used to pay for abortion."
"Yet, despite popular opposition, every year the federal government sends hundreds of millions of dollars in Title X funds to Planned Parenthood that can be used to help pay for abortions on demand," he said. "I was proud to cast a vote today to end the practice of subsidizing abortion with money from so many Hoosiers who do not regard it as an appropriate function of government."
Steve Tomaszewski, press secretary for 19th District Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., said, "Congressman Shimkus is 'pro-life' and consistently votes that position."
Betty Cockrum, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Indiana said the organization stands to lose $3 million in federal family planning dollars and Medicaid reimbursements that serve 22,000 patients. Some of the money goes to reduce the incidence of abortion through education and prevention.
"This vendetta would have huge costs to the state of Indiana with increased unintended pregnancy rates and an estimated $68 million due to additional Medicaid-covered births," she said. "It makes no sense."
But Mary Ellen VanDyke, executive director of Right to Life of Southwest Indiana, said her organization considers the vote "a victory for life, a victory for American taxpayers."
"The money Planned Parenthood receives through the government frees up other money for abortion," she said. "They are the largest abortion provider in the U.S. They are in the abortion business. If they want to receive federal funds, they should stop abortions but they won't because it brings in their greatest source of funding."
