Attempt to end Planned Parenthood funding blocked in Senate

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats late Monday blocked a Republican-backed effort to end federal funding for Planned Parenthood following the release of undercover videos that raise questions about the practice of harvesting tissue from aborted fetuses for research.

The 53-46 procedural vote fell short of the 60 ayes needed to proceed with a bill that would immediately stop funding for the beleaguered women's health-care provider. But the willingness of GOP leaders to bring the measure to a vote showed the new political importance of a social issue that had been sidelined just a month ago and heralded higher-stakes showdowns to come.

Defunding Planned Parenthood is now a centerpiece of the Republican agenda going into the summer congressional recess, and some hard-liners have said they are willing to force a government shutdown in October if federal support for the group is not curtailed.

'The time has come to have a full-throated debate about this, and the time has come to end all taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a presidential candidate and co-sponsor of the Senate bill, said Monday.

To blunt accusations from Democrats that cutting off funds for Planned Parenthood was part of a GOP war on women, the measure that came to a vote last night was sponsored by U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, a first-term Republican from Iowa.

Ernst accused Planned Parenthood of 'harvesting baby body parts” and of engaging in 'callous and morally reprehensible behavior.”

'It is wrong, the American people know it,” she said. 'The American taxpayer should not be asked to fund an organization like Planned Parenthood that has shown a sheer disdain for human dignity and complete disregard for women and their babies.”

She urged her colleagues to defund the organization and direct the money to community health centers and other women's health groups.

As a state senator, Ernst tried to defund Planned organization and also grant legal protections for a fertilized egg. When she ran for U.S. Senate in 2014, Ernst was targeted by a $450,000 ad campaign from Planned Parenthood.

The undercover videos sparking this latest debate were produced by an anti-abortion advocacy group known as the Center for Medical Progress. The videos depict Planned Parenthood executives speaking, cavalierly at times, about the procurement of tissue from aborted fetuses. The producers had posed as biotech entrepreneurs in search of research specimens.

Anti-abortion activists have suggested the videos constitute evidence that Planned Parenthood has violated the federal ban on selling fetal tissue for profit, as well as other abortion restrictions.

Although Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards has apologized for the tone of remarks heard in one video, the organization has strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Late in July. Ernst was the lead signer of a congressional letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services asking it to conduct a formal review of whether Planned Parenthood broke any laws.

The videos also have prompted investigations by two House committees and widespread calls from conservatives for a Justice Department investigation. Several Republican senators came to the Senate floor Monday afternoon to lambaste Planned Parenthood.

More than a third of Planned Parenthood's $1.3 billion in revenue last year came from government sources.

Democrats have portrayed the move to defund Planned Parenthood as an assault on women's health.

Federal funding for abortion, they note, has been outlawed for decades; the bill under consideration in the Senate would block Medicaid reimbursements and federal family-planning grants that support cancer screenings, birth control counseling and other aspects of reproductive health. They also noted past Republican support for fetal tissue research.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said before the vote Monday that Republicans 'have been out to get Planned Parenthood for decades. The only thing that changes are their tactics.”

Ed Tibbetts of the Quad-City Times contributed to this report.