WASHINGTON — House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday Republicans would strip federal dollars for Planned Parenthood as part of the GOP effort to repeal the health care law, prompting an outcry from the century-old organization and Democrats promising to fight the move. Ryan spoke a day after a special House panel issued a report criticizing the organization, which provides birth control, abortions and various women’s health services, for its practices regarding providing tissue from aborted fetuses to researchers. “Planned Parenthood legislation would be in our reconciliation bill,” House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said during a Thursday press conference, referring to the process Republicans are using to pass an Obamacare repeal bill with a simple majority of votes instead of a supermajority, which means Democrats can’t filibuster it in the Senate. Now that their plan is clear, Planned Parenthood, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the one in five women who have come to Planned Parenthood, the entire public health establishment and the millions of supporters across the country are ready to defend care with everything we’ve got.”

HollywoodLifers, where do you stand on this? The decision to add the controversial Planned Parenthood language, which is opposed by most Democrats, could have a major impact on getting the Affordable Care Act repeal legislation through the Senate because supporters need the backing of at least 50 of their 52 members and two pro-choice senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, won't commit to approving the bill with the Planned Parenthood provision in it. Asked Wednesday about party efforts to tie the effort to defund Planned Parenthood to Obamacare repeal, Collins said, “that’s of concern to me as well, but I don’t want to prejudge what’s in the … bill.”

Most GOP lawmakers have long opposed Planned Parenthood because many of its clinics provide abortions.
Paul Ryan announces that the Republican party will, as part of its efforts to repeal Obamacare, seek to stop using federal money to fund Planned Parenthood.