Legislative Update: 4 current bills to defund Planned Parenthood

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There are currently four bills in Congress to defund Planned Parenthood; one in the House and three in the Senate.

This is an overview of the bills being offered. SB 1881 (Sen Ernst) is the bill that Rep Austin Scott was encouraging Georgians to support. It is also the bill that Georgia Right to Life supported. SB 1881 did not receive enough votes to pass last night.

We all must bear in mind that President Obama will veto any bill cutting funds to Planned Parenthood. Also, there is not enough votes to override him.

1. The bill in the House, H.R. 3134 authored by Diane Black of Tennessee, has explicit exceptions for rape and incest in them. You can find the bill language here.

Two of the bills in the Senate, S. 1861 authored by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and S. 1881 by Joni Ernst of Iowa, do not contain language permitting exceptions in them. The third bill in the Senate, S. 1836 by Senator Jim Lankford of Oklahoma, does contain exceptions.

2. The bill by Senator Paul has no cosponsors but has been granted expeditious hearing directly to the Senate floor under Rule 14. You can find the bill language here.

3. The bill by Senator Ernst is cosponsored by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senators Cruz, Isakson, Paul, and others. It doesn’t have explicit exceptions, but does include language that prevents the bill from affecting any limitation contained in an appropriations Act relating to abortion. We are interpreting this to mean that it will not change the conditions of the Hyde Amendment, which allows for funding for abortions under cases of rape and incest. This is the same effect as the House bill, but the exception is a technicality rather than explicit. Rebecca Kiessling, Judie Brown, and Tim Overlin are all supporting this bill. You can find the bill language here.

4. The bill by Senator Lankford has no cosponsors but does contain the same exceptions language as Representative Black’s bill in the House. You can find the bill language here.

Let me know if you have any questions. This analysis was supplied by Josh Edmunds from GRTL.

abortion, legislative update, Planned Parenthood, politics