Getty Senate GOP presses ahead with Planned Parenthood defunding

Senate Republicans are still planning to force Planned Parenthood defunding legislation through the chamber using a fast-track process — despite concerns from some GOP moderates.

GOP leadership briefly mulled dumping the defunding provision from a broader measure that dismantles key parts of Obamacare, in an effort to mollify worried moderates. Senate Republicans have struggled to corral 51 votes for the package, which will be passed using a fast-track "reconciliation" process, amid growing opposition from both the conservative and moderate wings of the party.


But on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) made it clear: Senate Republicans are all in for defunding Planned Parenthood.

“We’re confident that the Obamacare repeal bill … will contain a defund of Planned Parenthood,” McConnell told reporters. “We’ll be moving to that after Thanksgiving.”

Dropping the Planned Parenthood provision could have won over Republicans such as Sens. Mark Kirk of Illinois, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who all have generally supported public funding for the women’s health organization. But doing so would have infuriated social conservatives on and off the Hill who are demanding that Republicans use reconciliation — a powerful procedural tool that prevents a filibuster in the senate — to go after the organization.

The Senate parliamentarian also ruled last week that the Planned Parenthood provision would qualify for the fast-track procedure — leaving leadership with little cover if they chose to drop the provision. The broader legislation repeals Obamacare’s individual and employer mandates, as well as the Cadillac and medical device taxes, and it passed the House last month with just seven Republican defections.

"We are going to proceed as the House passed the bill,” South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the third-ranking Senate Republican, said Tuesday. “Any suggestion that there’s some question about whether or not the Senate wants to follow through on the House bill is not right.”

Advocacy groups that oppose abortion, such as National Right to Life and the Susan B. Anthony List, have been aggressively lobbying Senate leaders to include Planned Parenthood defunding in the reconciliation measure.

In particular, National Right to Life says that it plans to score the reconciliation bill if it includes defunding Planned Parenthood. That means Republicans would risk their National Right to Life score — a vital statistic to conservatives — by opposing the legislation for any reason.

Conservative GOP Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Marco Rubio of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah have vowed to oppose the Obamacare reconciliation bill as written because it does not go far enough to more fully repeal the health care law.

Burgess Everett and Jennifer Haberkorn contributed to this report.