The long-time Republican effort to defund Planned Parenthood is threatening to sabotage the party's legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare, The Washington Times reported on Monday.
The House healthcare bill passed Thursday includes defunding most of the federal money to the country's largest network of abortion clinics, which has caused at least three GOP senators to express reservations.
This is significant, because with no Democrats expected to support the bill in the Senate, the Republicans can only have two defections and still pass the legislation.
Republicans have long argued that while federal funds don't pay directly for abortions, the subsidy the clinics receive from the government does allow Planned Parenthood to perform the procedure and therefore should be stopped, according to the Times.
Planned Parenthood receives about $550 million in federal reimbursements annually, so taking away those funds would cause serious harm to nationwide clinics, which also provide cancer screenings and other services.
This issue has already caused controversy in other GOP legislative attempts, as it was removed from the recent spending bill in order to get it passed and keep the government running.
Sen. Susan Collins is one of the Republicans objecting, telling ABC's "This Week" that it was a mistake for the House bill to defund Planned Parenthood, because "I don't think that low-income women should be denied their choice of healthcare providers for family planning, cancer screenings, some well-women care."
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But Family Research Council President Tony Perkins told The Washington Times that the provision defunding Planned Parenthood is non-negotiable, especially since it was already taken out of the spending bill, and that if the Senate version of the bill does away with it, then the bill will be rejected when it returns to the House.
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