As Senate Republicans face a murky path toward defunding Planned Parenthood, a pro-life group is taking the fight to the bright lights of Manhattan, renting out ad space in Times Square to go after the women’s health group.

Students for Life of America is running its 10-second spot on a giant screen affixed to a Broadway skyscraper. It features a woman crying and says hundreds of women are being “betrayed” by the organization’s abortion practice.

“Planned Parenthood preys on vulnerable women, telling them they can’t parent their child or place for adoption, but rather that they must have an abortion to solve their ‘problem,’” SFLA President Kristan Hawkins said. “That is not empowerment but rather a betrayal and an affront to the power of femininity.”

The ad started to run Wednesday and will appear once per hour between 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. for one week.

Republicans in Congress have been plotting ways to take away Planned Parenthood’s federal funding in the wake of undercover videos that appeared to show organization officials negotiating the sale of fetal body parts of research.

Such transfers are legal only if they’re not done for profit.

Planned Parenthood chief Cecile Richards told Congress the edited videos were an effort to “entrap” the organization, and that stripping her organization of federal funding would cut off access to birth control, cancer screenings and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.

The Senate parliamentarian says Republicans can attach a measure that defunds the organization to a fast-track budget bill that can pass on a majority vote. The legislation also seeks repeal of Obamacare’s most unpopular mandates and taxes, though that part needs tweaking and it is unclear if the party has the votes to send its bill to President Obama.

Three of the Senate’s 54 Republicans say the Obamacare portion doesn’t go far enough, while a trio of moderate Republicans have expressed reservations about defunding Planned Parenthood, placing the plan in limbo.

The House already passed the fast-track bill, which uses “budget reconciliation,” on the strength of its large Republican majority. Now, it’s urging the Senate to follow suit.

“Reconciliation is the best tool Congress has to end this disastrous law and to alleviate the burden on hardworking families and taxpayers,” said Rep. Bill Flores, Texas Republican and chairman of the Republican Study Committee. “We are also closer today to ending all taxpayer funding for abortion providers, whose troubling practices came to light earlier this year.”

“The House has acted on these critical issues,” he said, “and now the Senate must do the same.”

Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.