Democrat Senator Joe Manchin Says He Will Vote to De-Fund Planned Parenthood

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Aug 3, 2015   |   1:49PM   |   Washington, DC

The Senate will vote early Monday evening on a new bill has been introduced that will totally de-fund the Planned Parenthood abortion business. The legislation follows four shocking videos that have caught Planned Parenthood doctors discussing and arranging the sale of body parts of aborted babies.

When the vote happens, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia says he will vote to strike taxpayer funding for the Planned Parenthood abortion business:

According to the Weekly Standard, Manchin released the following statement:

“Like many West Virginians, I am very troubled by the callous behavior of Planned Parenthood staff in recently released videos, which casually discuss the sale, possibly for profit, of fetal tissue after an abortion. Until these allegations have been answered and resolved, I do not believe that taxpayer money should be used to fund this organization; instead those funds should be sent to other health care providers, including community health centers, which provide important women’s healthcare services.   While my vote is one that will prevent taxpayers dollars from going to Planned Parenthood, I will remain committed to ensuring that all women in West Virginia and America receive the health care services they need.”

SIGN THE PETITION! Congress Must De-Fund Planned Parenthood Immediately

Manchin’s support for de-funding is a departure from his previous support of taxpayer funding for the abortion business.

Previously, the Senate rejected, on a 44-56 vote, the House-approved long-term budget bill that contains the Pence Amendment de-funding the Planned Parenthood abortion business. Lawmakers needed 60 votes to pass the bill under the rules of the Senate and did not come close to the number needed to do so. That happened in part because three Democrats who claim to be pro-life, including Manchin, voted to continue funding the nation’s biggest abortion business.

The Democratic senator told the Register Herald newspaper that he lost a few “friends” over the vote for funding and went as far as claiming his vote was a pro-life one.

“I did everything humanly possible,” Manchin said. “At the end of the day, I could not in all my good conscious, when I knew not one penny of your taxes was being used at Planned Parenthood to pay for abortions… I couldn’t tell the women who were dependent upon that health care, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t take a chance on giving you your health care.’ I just couldn’t do it.”

“I made a vote that, with the facts I had in front of me, was an accurate vote,” Manchin said. “… I have friends who disagree.”

“Pro-life West Virginians are profoundly disappointed in Senator Manchin’s April 14 vote to allow taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider,” said West Virginians for Life Communications Director Mary Anne Buchanan in a statement to LifeNews at the time.

ACTION: Thank Manchin at https://manchin.senate.gov/contact_form.cfm

Democrats are expected to filibuster the bill – forcing Senate Republicans to come up with 60 votes to invoke cloture and end debate on the pro-life measure. Because two Republicans have said they support Planned Parenthood funding and Democrats like Senator Bob Casey, who claims to be pro-life, are not willing to support the bill to de-fund Planned Parenthood, Democrats are expected to sustain their filibuster and prevent passage of the de-funding measure.

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