Women's Health: Republicans Vote To Defund Planned Parenthood Clinics That Provide Pregnancy Tests, Cancer Screenings And Contraception

In a 230–188 vote Thursday, the House decided to overturn a rule launched by President Barak Obama’s administration that prohibited states from withholding federal funds to Planned Parenthood and other health care providers that also perform abortions, according to reports. Obama's rule went into effect just two days before leaving office on Jan. 18, but the House was able to dismiss the measure under the Congressional Review Act.

Obama’s rule came following 13 states’ attempts to cut federal funding toward family planning services that provide abortions, including Planned Parenthood. Although federal funds cannot be used to help cover abortion costs, the House’s vote would allow states to allocate more dollars toward health clinics and services that still offer women’s health care but simply don’t provide abortions.

Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., who introduced the measure, said on the House floor that the resolution wasn’t an attack on Planned Parenthood or an attempt to take money away from the family planning service.

“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,” she said.

Some Republicans had concerns about the measure, including Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., who told USA Today that he worried the overturn would lead to defunding more women’s health services than just abortion. Meanwhile, Democrats called the move an all-out attack on women’s access to health care and said the rule could lead to women and low-income people having limited access to dozens of other free services Planned Parenthood provides including pregnancy tests, cancer and sexually transmitted disease screening and contraception.

Planned Parenthood services roughly five million people a year and receives about $500 million annually from federal funding, about a quarter of which comes from Title X, a federal program that allows health care providers to offer reproductive services to low-income Americans little cost or free of charge. Planned Parenthood serves over 1.5 million people through Title X, 78 percent of represent people who fall below the federal poverty level.

The resolution will head over to the Senate next and will need 51 votes under the Congressional Review Act to completely overturn Obama’s rule.