Donna Cassata – Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON – Republicans portray Planned Parenthood as primarily focused on performing abortions and using American taxpayer dollars to do it.
Not so, say Democrats who counter that the group’s 800-plus health centers nationwide provide an array of services, from screenings for cancer to testing for sexually transmitted diseases. Abortion is just one of many procedures, and the law bars Planned Parenthood from using tax money for it.
In the budget maelstrom Friday stood Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a 90-year-old organization now part of a decades-long congressional battle over abortion.
Republicans wanted any legislation keeping the government operating to bar federal dollars for Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest provider of abortions. They wanted to distribute the money to the states.
“The country is broke and the vast majority of Americans don’t want tax dollars to take the life of unborn children,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio., chairman of Republican Study Committee, told reporters in a conference call. Click here to continue.
