Planned Parenthood unscathed in spending bill

Planned Parenthood is praising Democrats in Congress after the spending bill released early Wednesday morning spared the organization from cuts.

 

As expected, the spending bill does not defund Planned Parenthood, a clear deal-breaker for Democrats, but the absence of spending cuts is still noteworthy given the intensity of the push to defund the group earlier this year.

 

Planned Parenthood Vice President Dana Singiser praised congressional Democrats on Wednesday for “holding the line against these harmful policy riders and cuts to key women’s health programs.”

 

“Extreme members of Congress spent an entire year targeting access to reproductive health care at every opportunity — even threatening to shut down the government,” she added. “Today’s budget bill maintains access to critical preventive health services and lacks these harmful attacks on women’s health care — at home and abroad.”

 

After pushing for complete defunding of Planned Parenthood ahead of the Oct. 1 funding deadline, the conservative House Freedom Caucus scaled back its demands to a call for compromise language that would give states the ability to choose to defund the group.

 

The compromise was not included in the final spending bill.

 

The Freedom Caucus and Pro-Life Caucus also pushed for the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act to be included. That would have strengthened protections for organizations that do not want to cover abortions and doctors who do not want to provide them, as well as allowing people to sue if they think the protections are violated.

 

It also was not included in the final spending bill.

 

Read More: Planned Parenthood unscathed in spending bill | TheHill