House votes to undo Obama rule protecting Planned Parenthood grants

WASHINGTON — The House voted Thursday to overturn an Obama-era rule banning states from denying federal funds to Planned Parenthood and other health care providers that perform abortions.

The rule was designed to prohibit states from withholding family planning funding from providers for reasons other than their ability to offer family-planning services. The Republican-led House voted 230-188 largely along party lines to dismiss the rule under the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to overturn recently enacted regulations.

The family-planning rule took effect Jan. 18, two days before President Obama left office. It follows 13 states’ actions since 2011 to restrict access to such grants for family-planning providers that also provide abortions. Federal money already cannot be used to pay for abortions.

Republicans said Congress should overturn the rule to allow states the right to steer funds away from abortion providers, if they choose. Doing so doesn’t reduce family-planning grants, they argue. Instead, it lets states redirect the funds to community health centers and hospitals and away from abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.

“While I am unapologetically pro-life, you don’t have to be in order to support this resolution. You just have to believe in the 10th Amendment," Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., who introduced the resolution and is a member of the Pro-Life Caucus, said on the House floor Thursday. “With today’s resolution we’re not … voting to defund Planned Parenthood in any way, shape, or form. We are not voting to cut (family planning) funding. And we’re not voting to restrict abortion rights … we are simply voting today to affirm the rights of states to fund the health care providers that best suit their needs without fear of reprisal from their own federal government.”

“This resolution does not cut a dime from family planning funding available to states. It simply enables states to direct the funding towards non-abortion, whole-women health care providers," said Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo.

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But some members of the moderate Republican Tuesday Group caucus were concerned about the measure, according to the group’s co-chairman, Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa. He worried that it would defund other women’s health services, rather than abortion.

Democrats charged that the move is part of a Republican attack on women’s access to health care, and one that will ultimately hurt them with voters who have held marches across the country protesting cuts to reproductive health care services.

But Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said earlier this week that targeting Planned Parenthood is “the real goal” and this resolution is “the first salvo.”

"Let's be real clear: This is not about Planned Parenthood and abortion because we already know that Planned Parenthood gets no funding for abortions in this country — pure and simple,” Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., said on the floor Thursday. “What my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are willing to say is 'we just want to make sure Planned Parenthood doesn't get a dime.’"

Planned Parenthood Federation of America ​President Cecile Richards slammed the decision.

“Extremists in Congress are trying to make it easier for state politicians to take away people's health care – specifically, the 4 million people who rely on Title X for birth control and other care. This is wrong, and it’s not what the American people want," Richards said in a statement. "When Congress goes home next week, they can count on hearing from people at their offices, the corner store, and every town hall.”

The resolution will need 51 votes for Senate passage under the Congressional Review Act.

More than 4 million people received services in 2015 through more than 3,900 health centers funded under Title X of the Public Health Service Act. Planned Parenthood cares for about a third of them.

Services including pregnancy tests, cancer and sexually transmitted disease screenings and contraceptive services are provided to low-income people at no cost or reduced cost. Congress bars federal funds from being used to pay for abortion except to save the life of the woman, or if the pregnancy arises from incest or rape.