Pro-Life Lawmakers Renew Efforts to Defund Planned Parenthood

The U.S. House of Representatives just passed a bill called the Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act, which would repeal certain provisions of Obamacare and block tax funds to Planned Parenthood for a year. 

Specifically, the measure would roll back the individual and employer mandates, and the tax penalties associated with these provisions. The bill would also transfer federal tax dollars from the abortion mill to community health centers.

Although the Center for Medical Progress’s series of undercover videos certainly played a big role in the recent push to defund Planned Parenthood, no pro-life taxpayer should be forced to pay for the slaughter, regardless of fetal harvesting. Women don’t need to go to Planned Parenthood clinics for health care. Abortion is not health care, and women who don’t want their unborn babies can pay for abortions themselves. 

“We thank the House for redirecting taxpayer money away from an abortion giant that engages in gruesome and unethical practices,” Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins said in a statement. “Republicans in the Senate now have the opportunity to work toward keeping the campaign promises that helped them secure the Congressional majority. For our friends in the Senate who think the House bill is not strong enough, we encourage them to try and make the measure even better. The House leadership has said they will accept any improvements the Senate makes to the bill that eliminates much of Planned Parenthood’s funding and removes the heart of Obamacare.”

What will the Republican-majority Senate do with this bill? From Fox News:

Though Republicans have gone after the Affordable Care Act before, as well as Planned Parenthood, this bill is unique in that it uses a parliamentary tactic to make it easier to pass the Senate. Republicans wrapped the bill in a procedure that would shield it from a Senate filibuster — meaning it will need only 51 votes to pass that chamber, as opposed to 60. But it’s no guarantee that the 54 Senate Republicans would back it…