Planned Parenthood nearly lost their federal funding yesterday after pro-life groups questioned whether Planned Parenthood’s exchange of human fetal tissue for money violated conscience or the law. But six senators who voted to end the organization’s federal funding yesterday had also voted to make that exchange of human fetal tissue legal in 1993.

What The Law Says

Planned Parenthood is a non-profit organization that provides reproductive health, maternal health, and child health services, including abortions. The organization has been a focus of the abortion debate for some time, but it came under heavy fire last month after groups accused the organization of selling aborted fetuses and fetal tissue based on a video showing a Planned Parenthood executive discussing payments.

This 1993 law permits reasonable payments in the exchange of human fetal tissue.

Planned Parenthood doesn’t deny that they have been exchanging fetal tissue with payments, but payments have been legal since the National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act of 1993, which prohibited the sale of human fetal tissue but allowed exchanges with “reasonable payments associated with the transportation, implantation, processing, preservation, quality control, or storage.”

The 1993 law was passed in the Senate nearly unanimously.

The six senators who supported the 1993 law but oppose federal funding of Planned Parenthood today

The 1993 law which made Planned Parenthood’s actions likely legal was supported at the time by senators Mitch McConnell (R-KY), John McCain (R-AZ), Richard Shelby (R-IL)*, Daniel Coats (R-IN), Thad Cochran (R-MS), and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), all of whom supported the bill to end federal funding of Planned Parenthood. (None of the senators who voted against the 1993 bill are still serving in Congress.)

The positions of these six senators isn’t contradictory, of course. Many believe that regardless of legality federal money should not be spent to assist an organization that performs abortions and harvests fetal tissue — that’s what yesterday’s vote was about.

Yesterday’s vote

Yesterday’s vote was on bill S. 1881, which would end federal funding for Planned Parenthood Federation for America but would not make the activities that the video brought to light illegal.

The bill failed yesterday after Republicans were unable to find the 60 votes needed to overcome a Democratic filibuster. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) was the only Republican senator opposing the bill. Democratic senators Joe Donnelly (IN) and Joe Manchin (WV) voted with the Republicans. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a presidential candidate, did not vote —he was at a debate but announced his support for the bill.

To support our continued coverage of Congress, please back our Kickstarter.