Needed: 51 U.S. Senators to Vote ‘Yea’ to Defund Planned Parenthood

The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on defunding Planned Parenthood before the end of the year in the wake of moral outrage surrounding the sale of babies’ body parts and the House passing a bipartisan bill to defund the nation’s largest abortion provider.

Earlier this year, a radical pro-abortion minority in the Senate filibustered a bill that would have taken away all of Planned Parenthood’s federal taxpayer funding. Even though 55 Senators publicly supported the bill, pro-abortion senators killed it by preventing a vote. The bill needed 60 votes to survive.

Undaunted, pro-life legislators continued to push. A new bill, recently overwhelmingly passed in the House, is now again before the Senate—but this time, through the use of the “reconciliation” procedure, the bill only needs 51 votes to pass. In reconciliation, the filibuster is not an option. This time, pro-abortion senators will not be able to shield the abortion industry, which funnels hundreds of thousands of dollars to their campaigns.

For the first time in his presidency, we will have the opportunity to send a major piece of pro-life legislation to President Obama’s desk, forcing him to either sign this measure into law – something that most Americans support—or veto it. It will truly be a defining moment.

All it will take to pass this important piece of pro-life legislation is the vote of 51 pro-life senators. It’s long past time.

While there are a number of questions being raised about this bill, as we have explained before:

As we know, the pro-life majority in the Senate is slim and shaky at best. In addition, there are some pro-life senators who say this bill doesn’t go far enough.

But success in the political arena is incremental.

Is this a perfect bill? Of course not. Has leadership in the House and Senate been the most efficient or effective in moving pro-life legislation forward? Certainly not. Were there possibly more effective options out there? Quite possibly so.

But is this bill sitting in front of Congress and does it take America a step in the right direction? Absolutely.

That in and of itself should be reason enough to support this bill.

While this bill doesn’t go as far as the one that overwhelmingly passed the House and that pro-abortion Senators initially blocked in the Senate, using the reconciliation process—necessary to defeat the filibuster—also limits the type of funds the bill may impact. In other words, this bill may only reach mandatory spending, like Medicare and Medicaid dollars, within the jurisdiction of relevant legislative Committees. Discretionary spending is not within its reach. But it’s a significant step.

Every dollar we stop from pumping up the abortion industry is a victory for life.

While there will be more work ahead, this bill reflects the critical next step in the fight for life. All things considered, this bill, now before the Senate, should and must pass and force President Obama’s hand.

If the president is going to veto the legislation, why did the abortion machine try so hard to derail it? Why did big abortion go to the trouble of mobilizing their bought-and-paid-for Senators to thwart the bill?

Here is the bottom line: Americans don’t want their tax dollars funding the nation’s largest abortion provider. We don’t want our money subsidizing the extermination of defenseless, helpless human life.

Consider this development in the context of other abortion news:

Last week, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin made national headlines when she urged Oklahoma’s Medicaid provider to cancel its contracts with Planned Parenthood. According to the governor: “More than one in every seven bills submitted for payment to your agency by these providers are inaccurately coded or insufficiently documented. These errors result in overbilling to the Oklahoma taxpayer.”

The House Special Investigative Panel we told you about in October continues its investigation scrutinizing big abortion and its use of taxpayer dollars.  

Also, as we reported, the Supreme Court recently announced it would take an absolutely critical case where big abortion seeks immunity from safety regulations protecting women. Safety regulations such as requiring the abortionist to have admitting privileges at a hospital, and requiring that the abortion clinic comply with the same requirements imposed on ambulatory surgical centers—basic safety standards. What other “medical care” provider could, with a straight face, demand that “the rules” should not apply to them? If abortionists were “for” women, they would embrace these types of regulations. But instead, it’s another lawsuit placing profits over safety.

We’ve detailed big abortion’s profit agenda before. We recently interviewed former Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson (part of our upcoming pro-life documentary), who detailed how the abortion giant demands outlandish profit margins from each and every abortion it commits.

Ironically, Planned Parenthood tweets: “Every child deserves the opportunity to live up to their God given potential.”

At the ACLJ, we actually believe that. We’re aggressively fighting in Congress, in the courts, and in the media to expose big abortion, defend those who are saving lives, and protect unborn babies. We’re engaged in nearly a dozen pro-life cases in courts from coast to coast—including at the Supreme Court.

Be encouraged. The tide continues to turn. Our work is not in vain.