The new battle to defund Planned Parenthood

AS GOVERNOR of Indiana, Mike Pence introduced some of the strictest anti-abortion laws in America. So there was little doubt, when he was required to adjudicate the first abortion-related vote of the Trump presidency, which way he would choose. On March 30th Mr Pence exercised his vice-presidential prerogative by casting a rare tie-breaking vote in the Senate to let states deny federal grants to Planned Parenthood, the biggest provider of abortions in America.Republican Congressmen had convened the vote under the little-used Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to roll back regulations issued in the dog-days of a previous administration. The rule Mr Pence and his Republican colleagues voted to scrap forbade states from refusing to distribute federal cash earmarked for family-planning under a programme known as 'Title X' to clinics that perform abortions. It had been issued by Barack Obama's administration in December after a dozen Republican-run states were reported to have been starving such clinics of cash. Many poor women were reported to have been denied family-planning services as a result.Pro-life lawmakers now aim to 'defund' Planned Parenthood of the $500m-odd...Continue reading
Click here to read full news..