Republican Rep. tries to save Planned Parenthood

Rep. Bob Dold (R-Ill.) is something of a unicorn in the Republican party. He’s a pro-choice Republican who is now introducing legislation to protect Planned Parenthood from being cut out of federal funding.

There’s been a growing movement in the Republican Party to strip Planned Parenthood of any federal funding because the organization is the largest provider of abortions in the country, and the House passed legislation this year to defund the organization.

Dold, a freshman, was one of seven Republicans to vote against the measure. On Wednesday he introduced the “Protecting Women’s Access to Health Care Act” at a press conference, flanked by representatives from Planned Parenthood and the Republican Majority for Choice.

“This is something I’ve being dealing with since I got here, I was the only Republican to stand up and speak out against defunding Planned Parenthood,” Dold told POLITICO. “This is Title X funding, and I want to make sure we are preserving access to health care for women.”

“I want to focus on what I can do to find common ground, certainly this is an issue I’ve been pretty vocal about. I’m sure there will be those that don’t like it, but I’m sure there will be those that do,” he added.

One of the members sure to not like it is Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), the Energy and Commerce Oversight subcommittee chairman who has launched an investigation into Planned Parenthood.

“I wonder how many Republican co-sponsors he’ll get,” Stearns scoffed. “I don’t understand why a bill is needed-there’s no discrimination against Planned Parenthood. We’re getting financial records, the cases that we’ve seen where they’ve committed Medicaid fraud, we need to know why this is occurring and why they are getting government money.”

Dold wouldn't go after his fellow Republicans beyond noting that he’d broken with his party during the defunding vote and said he looked forward to “working with members on both sides of the aisle” in supporting his legislation.