'I do believe that Planned Parenthood provides vital services,' Lisa Murkowski said. Murkowski and Planned Parenthood

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has come out in opposition to the House’s attempts to defund Planned Parenthood, making her the first Republican senator to specifically support the beleaguered organization.

“I believe Planned Parenthood provides vital services to those in need and disagree with their funding cuts in the bill,” Murkowski wrote in a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Vice Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.). “I ask you to consider these programs going forward to determine if there is room for allowing continued funding.”


Murkowski’s move follows that of Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who last week came out against the House vote to defund Title X, the only federal program dedicated to reproductive health issues.

"Sen. Collins is a longtime supporter of the Title X family planning program, and she believes the House’s decision to completely eliminate the funding is unwise,” Collins spokesman Kevin Kelley said. “The program has successfully reduced the number of unplanned pregnancies, therefore helping to reduce health care costs.”

Planned Parenthood receives Title X funding, which is defunded in the Republican spending bill. Planned Parenthood defunding was the subject of a separate amendment to the spending bill sponsored by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.).

In an e-mail to a constituent, Murkowski expanded on her position, also taking shots at the House Republicans’ attempts to end Title X funding. “I do believe that Planned Parenthood provides vital services to those in need and disagree with its funding cuts contained in the H.R. 1 package,” she wrote in a Friday e-mail, obtained by POLITICO. “From 2002-2008, Planned Parenthood received $342 million in federal taxpayer money through Title X funding alone. With these funds, Planned Parenthood has provided women throughout the U.S. with important family planning and contraceptive services as well as screening for breast and cervical cancers for low-income women. I believe it is important that Title X organizations continue to receive funding. In Alaska, this includes five centers — two health department clinics, two Planned Parenthood clinics in Sitka and Soldotna and one independent clinic.”

While the House’s long-term continuing resolution strips Planned Parenthood of all its federal funding, the letter comes on the heels of two, short-term continuing resolutions that leave their funding intact.

Social conservatives have petitioned the House leadership to make the defunding of Planned Parenthood a “nonnegotiable” in their budget talks with the Senate. But leadership has given them no such a promise.

Seven House Republicans voted against the amendment to defund Planned Parenthood during the continuing resolution debate.