Senate Defeats Amendment to Send $1 Billion to Planned Parenthood and Abortion Businesses

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Dec 3, 2015   |   3:09PM   |   Washington, DC

The Senate today is debating a reconciliation bill that would de-fund the Planned Parenthood abortion business. Leading up to a vote on the bill, the Senate defeated an amendment from pro-abortion Senators Patty Murray of Washington and Ron Wyden of Oregon that would send $1 billion in taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood and abortion businesses.

National Right to Life and other pro-life groups urged the Senate to defeat the pro-abortion amendment in letters leading up to the vote.

“The Murray-Wyden Amendment would strike Section 101, and replace it with language to authorize $1,000,000,000 for “eligible services” (with no exclusion for abortion) for any person “determined by a woman’s health clinic or provider to need services,” and for clinic “security.” Only organizations that provide elective abortions would be eligible to receive these funds,” National Right to Life explained.

The Senate voted 54-46 (see below for roll call) to table or kill the amendment, which would strike the section of the bill that de-funds Planned Parenthood. The vote saw Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia vote with Republicans to kill the pro-abortion amendment while pro-abortion Republican Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois voted with Democrats to support abortion.

The Senate then defeated 52-48 a second pro-abortion amendment sponsored by Kirk and Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) to strip the Planned Parenthood de-funding section from the ObamaCare repeal bill.

Sen. Mike Enzi, a pro-life Republican from Wyoming, rebutted claims that pro-life people are violent and that’s why they are targeting Planned Parenthood for de-funding or that they somehow oppose women’s health care.
“We certainly don’t condone any of the violence anywhere in the United States,” he said. “The best way to ensure that women and men have affordable healthcare is to pass this bill and repeal ObamaCare.”

Family Research Council’s Vice President for Government Affairs, David Christensen, made the following statement about the defeated amendments:

“The defeat of the Murray and Collins amendments is a victory for the American people. Across the country, people are tired of being forced by the federal government to partner with the abortion industry, including those engaged in the selling of baby body parts. This legislation protects women’s health by reallocating funds to community health centers that provide a broader array of health services.

“The pro-life community stood together to advocate removing the flow of most tax dollars to Planned Parenthood through the budget reconciliation process, and the Senate rightly rejected efforts to force federal complicity in funding abortion groups. We look forward to final passage of the bill later this evening,” concluded Christensen.

Obama is threatening to veto the de-funding measure and the threat comes after President Barack Obama warned pro-life people not to “demonize” Planned Parenthood in the wake of the shooting.

Yesterday, the White House issued a proclamation for President Barack Obama today indicating that he will veto the bill the Senate is considering currently that would de-fund the Planned Parenthood abortion business. The abortion company has been caught selling aborted baby parts and aborted babies themselves for profit to scientists conducting dubious research.

Obama is threatening to veto the de-funding measure and the threat comes after President Barack Obama warned pro-life people not to “demonize” Planned Parenthood in the wake of the shooting.

Obama has repeatedly threatened to veto any bill that stops taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood, issuing a veto threat in September and in July.

The bill has the support of key pro-life groups like the Family Research Council.

“This week, the Senate has the opportunity to largely defund Planned Parenthood and repeal key parts of ObamaCare using a budget procedure called “reconciliation” which requires only 51 votes instead of the usual 60. Debate will begin tomorrow, with amendments and a final vote expected on Thursday,” David Christensen, FRC’s Vice President for Government Affairs, said about the bill.

“The bill will cut a massive portion of your taxpayer dollars that fund Planned Parenthood. While the special rules on Reconciliation cannot be used to defund ALL federal funding for Planned Parenthood, it CAN be used to cut millions from their pocket book—roughly 80%,” he added.

He added: “Repealing major portions of ObamaCare would also be a huge pro-life victory. The ObamaCare provision would alleviate federal pressure on people and employers who are forced to purchase health insurance which they may find objectionable, and cut spending from the “prevention fund,” which is a government slush fund that is able to pay directly for abortion. Amendments offered during debate tomorrow and Thursday may go even further, including eliminating the premium subsidies, through which the federal government subsidizes elective abortion in healthcare.”

In August, Senate Democrats defeated an effort to revoke taxpayer funding for the Planned Parenthood abortion business by filibustering the bill and preventing a vote on it. Republicans were unable to secure the 60 voted needed to invoke cloture and stop debate on the bill, allowing an up or down vote. Republicans could only get 53 votes to shut off debate.

Then, in September, Senate Democrats voted to defeat a government funding bill that would de-fund the Planned Parenthood abortion business after it was caught in a series of 10 videos selling aborted babies and their body parts. The Senate voted 52 to 47 against ending debate.

The bill would block, for one year, most federal payments to Planned Parenthood. At least 89% of federal funding of Planned Parenthood would be blocked by this bill. The bill would repeal a number of major components of the Obamacare health law, including two of the major provisions that will lead to rationing of lifesaving care — the “Independent Payment Advisory Board” and the “excess benefits tax.”

Dozens of leading pro-life groups have already indicated their support for the bill, including the National Right to Life Committee. In a letter to members of Congress that NRLC provided to LifeNews.com, the group indicated it strongly supports the bill to de-fund Planned Parenthood.

“NRLC strongly supports the language in the bill that would block, for one year, most federal payments to affiliates of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA). It would close the largest pipeline for federal funding of Planned Parenthood, Medicaid, and apply as well to the CHIP and the Title V and Title XX block grant programs, thus covering roughly 89% of all federal funds to Planned Parenthood. The amounts denied to Planned Parenthood in effect are reallocated to community health centers,” the pro-life group explained.

“Over one-third of all abortions in the U.S. are performed at PPFA-affiliated facilities. Longstanding objections to the massive federal funding of PPFA have been reinforced by recent widely publicized undercover videos, which illuminate the callous brutality that occurs daily in these abortion mills,” NRLC added.

The reconciliation bill also repeals portions of Obamacare,including its rationing components. With regard to the rationing aspects of Obamacare, NRLC strongly supports a repeal.

“In addition, NRLC has always opposed the Obamacare law and advocated its repeal. With respect to H.R. 3762, we particularly endorse the components that would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) and the “excess benefits tax” (“Cadillac Tax”), both dangerous mechanisms that would ultimately contribute to the rationing of lifesaving care,” the right to life group said.

Leading pro-life groups that also support the reconciliation bill to de-fund Planned Parenthood include Susan B. Anthony List, National Right to Life, Family Research Council, March for Life, Concerned Women for America, Students for Life, Priests for Life, Operation Rescue, and American Life League, among others.

A new Congressional report finds that de-funding the Planned Parenthood abortion business — even for one year — would save “several thousand” unborn babies from the nightmare of abortion. The report also finds de-funding Planned Parenthood would save the federal government $235 million.

The expose’ videos catching Planned Parenthood officials selling the body parts of aborted babies have shocked the nation. Here is a list of all eleven:

  • In the first video: Dr. Deborah Nucatola of Planned Parenthood commented on baby-crushing: “We’ve been very good at getting heart, lung, liver, because we know that, so I’m not gonna crush that part, I’m gonna basically crush below, I’m gonna crush above, and I’m gonna see if I can get it all intact.”
  • In the second video: Planned Parenthood’s Dr. Mary Gatter joked, “I want a Lamborghini” as she negotiated the best price for baby parts.
  • In the third video: Holly O’Donnell, a former Stem Express employee who worked inside a Planned Parenthood clinic, detailed first-hand the unspeakable atrocities and how she fainted in horror over handling baby legs.
  • In the fourth video: Planned Parenthood’s Dr. Savita Ginde stated, “We don’t want to do just a flat-fee (per baby) of like, $200. A per-item thing works a little better, just because we can see how much we can get out of it.” She also laughed while looking at a plate of fetal kidneys that were “good to go.”
  • In the fifth video: Melissa Farrell of Planned Parenthood-Gulf Coast in Houston boasted of Planned Parenthood’s skill in obtaining “intact fetal cadavers” and how her “research” department “contributes so much to the bottom line of our organization here, you know we’re one of the largest affiliates, our Research Department is the largest in the United States.”
  • In the sixth video: Holly O’Donnell described technicians taking fetal parts without patient consent: “There were times when they would just take what they wanted. And these mothers don’t know. And there’s no way they would know.”
  • In the seventh and perhaps most disturbing video: Holly O’Donnell described the harvesting, or “procurement,” of organs from a nearly intact late-term fetus aborted at Planned Parenthood Mar Monte’s Alameda clinic in San Jose, CA. “‘You want to see something kind of cool,’” O’Donnell says her supervisor asked her. “And she just taps the heart, and it starts beating. And I’m sitting here and I’m looking at this fetus, and its heart is beating, and I don’t know what to think.”
  • In the eighth video: StemExpress CEO Cate Dyer admits Planned Parenthood sells “a lot of” fully intact aborted babies.
  • The ninth video: catches a Planned Parenthood medical director discussing how the abortion company sells fully intact aborted babies — including one who “just fell out” of the womb.
  • The 10th video: catches the nation’s biggest abortion business selling specific body parts — including the heart, eyes and “gonads” of unborn babies.The video also shows the shocking ways in which Planned Parenthood officials admit that they are breaking federal law by selling aborted baby body parts for profit.
  • Unreleased Videos: Unreleased videos from CMP show Deb Vanderhei of Planned Parenthood caught on tape talking about how Planned Parenthood abortion business affiliates may “want to increase revenue [from selling baby parts] but we can’t stop them…” Another video has a woman talking about the “financial incentives” of selling aborted baby body parts.
  • The 11th video: catches a texas Planned Parenthood abortionist planning to sell the intact heads of aborted babies for research. Amna Dermish is caught on tape describing an illegal partial-birth abortion procedure to terminate living, late-term unborn babies which she hopes will yield intact fetal heads for brain harvesting.

SIGN THE PETITION! Congress Must Investigate Planned Parenthood for Selling Aborted Baby Parts

The full, unedited videos have confirmed that revelations that some aborted baby remains sold by Planned Parenthood go to biotech companies for the purpose of creating “humanized” mice. Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood has been exposed as having sold body parts from aborted babies for as much as 15 years.

The federal law that technically prohibits the sale of aborted babies and their body parts was written by a pro-abortion Congressman decades ago and essentially spells out a process by which sellers of aborted baby body parts can meet certain criteria that allows the sales to be legal. That’s why a Colorado congressman has introduced legislation to totally ban the sales of aborted baby body parts.

Roll Call on Vote to Stop Amendment Funding Planned Parenthood: Yea = Pro-Life, Nay = Pro-Abortion

YEAs —54
Alexander (R-TN)
Ayotte (R-NH)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Blunt (R-MO)
Boozman (R-AR)
Burr (R-NC)
Capito (R-WV)
Cassidy (R-LA)
Coats (R-IN)
Cochran (R-MS)
Collins (R-ME)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Cotton (R-AR)
Crapo (R-ID)
Cruz (R-TX)
Daines (R-MT)
Enzi (R-WY)
Ernst (R-IA)
Fischer (R-NE)
Flake (R-AZ)
Gardner (R-CO)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hatch (R-UT)
Heller (R-NV)
Hoeven (R-ND)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johnson (R-WI)
Lankford (R-OK)
Lee (R-UT)
Manchin (D-WV)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Moran (R-KS)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Paul (R-KY)
Perdue (R-GA)
Portman (R-OH)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Rounds (R-SD)
Rubio (R-FL)
Sasse (R-NE)
Scott (R-SC)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Sullivan (R-AK)
Thune (R-SD)
Tillis (R-NC)
Toomey (R-PA)
Vitter (R-LA)
Wicker (R-MS)

senate3

NAYs —46
Baldwin (D-WI)
Bennet (D-CO)
Blumenthal (D-CT)
Booker (D-NJ)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Coons (D-DE)
Donnelly (D-IN)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Franken (D-MN)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Heinrich (D-NM)
Heitkamp (D-ND)
Hirono (D-HI)
Kaine (D-VA)
King (I-ME)
Kirk (R-IL)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Leahy (D-VT)
Markey (D-MA)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Merkley (D-OR)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murphy (D-CT)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Peters (D-MI)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schatz (D-HI)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Tester (D-MT)
Udall (D-NM)
Warner (D-VA)
Warren (D-MA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)