Pro-Life Group Hits Obama and Reid over Planned Parenthood Funding and Government Shut Down

The ante goes up as a Planned Parenthood Funding rider appears to be a stumbling block on a continuing resolution to avoid a government shut down tonight at midnight.

Democrats and Republicans can’t quite agree on what has been preventing them from cutting a budget deal — ideology (riders on abortion and Planned Parenthood) or, as House Speaker John Boehner contends, the amount of spending cuts proposed.

On a conference call this afternoon, the conservative anti-abortion-rights group, Susan B. Anthony List, criticized Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) for what they see as threatening a shutdown over funding Planned Parenthood.   

“It is the height of unreasonableness for this president to single out Planned Parenthood,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the group. “Why is it reasonable to shut down the government in order to protect this one organization?”

Dannenfelser, a former staff director of the Congressional Pro-Life caucus, accused Planned Parenthood of running on “an abortion-center corporate model” that would funnel the $363 million in of Title X funding in question to increasing abortion services. Federal money is already not allowed to go toward funding abortions. Planned Parenthood notes that 95% of its services are non-abortion related health services, like cancer screenings and providing birth control.

The policy rider Republicans attached to the proposed budget deal would block Planned Parenthood from receiving those funds. Dismissing Democratic claims her group and like-minded Republican lawmakers are waging a war on women, Dannenfelser and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) said the rider redirects the $363 million to one of the country’s other 1,700 federally qualified women’s healthcare providers. 

Dannenfelser claimed Planned Parenthood only acts as a primary care provider for 19,000 of the 3 million female patients the organization sees each year and cutting their funding will not cause a reduction in women’s health services. Planned Parenthood says that’s not true. Saying “come on” in response to a reporter’s assertion that Planned Parenthood cannot use federal money to pay for abortion services, Jordan insisted the money they receive is “fungible” and said he believes most of those funds do help pay for abortions.

“For them to make that claim,” Jordan said, “it’s just common sense that money is fungible.”

I don’t mean to be cynical, but I think Speaker Boehner is using this rider to extract more cuts – as many as he can – and will sacrifice the issue (for now) in the end in order to avoid a government shut down.

Anyone want to bet though that they only partially fund Planned Parenthood?