A bill that would strip Planned Parenthood of federal funds was passed in the House of Representatives on Friday. The 241-187 vote was divided mostly along party lines.
"For the one-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, subject to subsection (b), no funds authorized or appropriated by Federal law may be made available for any purpose to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., or any affiliate or clinic of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., unless such entities certify that Planned Parenthood Federation of America affiliates and clinics will not perform, and will not provide any funds to any other entity that performs, an abortion during such period," the bill reads.
The measure-- HR 3134, also known as the Defund Planned Parenthood Act-- would defund Planned Parenthood of federal funds for one year while investigations of the organization's practices are conducted, in light of claims made by the Center for Medical Progress.
"If there is reason to investigate, then there is reason to withhold taxpayer dollars during that period of time. The American taxpayer has been clear for a very long time that they do not want federal funds spent on abortion," said Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) according to Washington Post.
The Center for Medical Progress, a pro-life organization, released a series of videos that suggest that Planned Parenthood has violated federal law that bans the selling of aborted fetal tissue for profit. Planned Parenthood and its supporters deny any wrongdoing.
Any funding withheld from Planned Parenthood would be allocated to health clinics that do not offer abortion.
However, during the floor debate on Friday, Democrats decried the bill as a charge on women's health, mentioning that other health clinics would not be able to accommodate for Planned Parenthood's 2.7 million clients.
"If you want to have a truthful debate, then let's talk about the 400,000 Pap smears, the 500,000 breast exams, the 4.5 million STD and HIV tests that Planned Parenthood does each year," said Rep. Louis Frankel (D-Fla.).
The measure was easily passed in the House, where Republicans currently have the majority. The Senate, however, blocked a bill to defund Planned Parenthood in early August.
Another abortion-related bill was passed on Friday along with HR 3134, titled the "Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act." This bill, HR 3504 would make it crime for a medical professional to fail to protect babies who are born alive during abortions.
