Senate Blocks Measure to Defund Planned Parenthood, Fund Government

(Photo: Corbis/Reuters/Lucas Jackson)

On Thursday afternoon, the Senate voted on a measure passed in the House last week to temporarily fund the government — but only if all federal funding for Planned Parenthood is eliminated for the next year.

The measure to approve this temporary government spending failed to garner the 60 votes it needed to advance, with 47 senators thus far voting for it and 52 senators voting against it.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), introduced a spending measure that would fund the government, and thus temporarily avert a potential shutdown, through Dec. 11, 2015 with the contingency that all federal funding for Planned Parenthood be eliminated.

McConnell’s failure to pass a cloture motion to limit debate around the measure is a signal from Democrats, presently the minority in both the Senate and the House, that they are prepared to filibuster should Republicans attempt to move forward with budget resolution that includes the defunding of Planned Parenthood.

McConnell is expected to now advance a nearly identical spending measure, this time without the aforementioned Planned Parenthood contingency.

Congress has until midnight on Wednesday, Sept. 30, to pass a budget for the upcoming federal fiscal year. Should they be unable to agree upon a budget resolution, they will force a government shutdown.

In 2011, Republicans came close to orchestrating a shutdown over the funding of Planned Parenthood, reaching an agreement with their colleagues across the aisle — and allowing for continued federal funding for the non-profit reproductive and sexual healthcare provider, hours before the clock ran out and a shutdown would have begun.

The majority of federal funding received by Planned Parenthood is for Medicaid reimbursement, and no federal funds may be spent on any costs affiliated with abortion care. Defunding Planned Parenthood would primarily affect Americans who qualify for Medicaid, as well as low-income households who fail to meet Medicaid limits and cannot afford insurance — but can receive preventive health care services, including cancer screenings and contraception, on a sliding scale based on need.

Already, the majority of Medicaid programs are experiencing provider shortages, with more than two-thirds of states reporting difficulty in ensuring enough providers, especially OB-GYN care, for enrollees. Planned Parenthood affiliate clinics make up 10 percent of all publicly funded family planning centers, serving 36 percent of all clients who obtain care from the family planning health care network.

Likewise, Planned Parenthood health centers make up 13 percent of all Title X-funded clinics, and yet serve 37 percent of all Title X clients. (Title X is the federal grant program that provides comprehensive family planning and reproductive health services, including contraception.)

Several state-level case studies have already shown the detrimental effects of eliminating Planned Parenthood as a preventive health care provider for low-income, under-insured women and families. When the Planned Parenthood health center in Scott County, Ind., was shuttered by state budget cuts in 2013, thereby eliminating the region’s primary resource for HIV testing and counseling, the state found itself facing an unprecedented HIV epidemic within a mere two years.

And after Texas — arguably the state with the most restrictive laws regarding women’s health care in the country — eliminated Planned Parenthood health centers from its family planning program for low-income women, there was a 9 percent decrease in program enrollees, a 26 percent decrease in Medicaid claims, and a 54 percent decrease in contraceptive claims — fueling a 67 percent decrease in net savings from family planning across the state.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently estimated that that 630,000 Planned Parenthood patients would lose access to the preventative health care services, including testing for sexually transmitted diseases and contraception, should the moves to defund Planned Parenthood succeed.

Health Affairs, a preeminent public health journal, earlier this month published “analysis [that] shows unequivocally that Planned Parenthood plays a major role in delivering publicly supported contraceptive services and supplies to women who are in need of such care nationwide. In two-thirds of the 491 counties in which they are located, Planned Parenthood health centers serve at least half of all women obtaining contraceptive care from safety-net health centers. In one-fifth of the counties in which they are located, Planned Parenthood sites are the sole safety-net family planning center.”

The journal notes that 64 percent of the 19 million women in need of publicly supported contraceptive services and supplies live in counties with a Planned Parenthood health center and that 30 percent of those women live in counties where Planned Parenthood serves the majority of those obtaining publicly supported contraceptive care from the family planning safety net.

Meanwhile, some Republicans, such as Tea Party member and presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) insist that they will force a shutdown rather than allow for continued federal support of Planned Parenthood.

In an op-ed published yesterday in Politico Magazine, Cruz writes, “Surely, you might think, Republicans can use different “tactics” and accomplish something meaningful without risking a government shutdown. Alas, no.” Cruz insists that a shutdown is necessary to force the President’s hand in preventing federal dollars being allocated to Planned Parenthood. Citing the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) videos that have been widely discredited and proven to be highly edited, Cruz continues to insist that there is evidence in them “depicting the barbaric selling of unborn baby parts by Planned Parenthood.”

The New York Times Editorial Board, however, sees things differently, publishing an op-ed this morning noting that not only do the CMP tapes show “Planned Parenthood officials discussing fetal-tissue donation, which is legal and critical for medical research,” but also that in their quest to defund Planned Parenthood — already banned by federal law from using any federal funds for abortion care — Republicans are showing their hand when it comes to “denying women, especially poor women, the health care they need; pandering for primary votes among Tea Party regulars; and obstructing the budget process and the smooth functioning of government. Quite a record.”

The most recent CNN/ORC poll found that 71 percent of adults say it is more important for Congress to approve a spending bill to keep the government open, compared to 22 percent who say it is more important to eliminate all federal funds for Planned Parenthood.

Speaking on the Senate floor this afternoon, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), reminded her colleagues across the aisle that “attacking women’s health doesn’t keep the government open and these shutdown threats will not work.”

As the Senator told Yahoo Health in an exclusive interview on Tuesday, “Women will stand up in the House and Senate and say, ‘We will not be held hostage. We will not be told that we will not get our health care in order for a budget to pass.’”