The Senate’s vote on the bill to defund Planned Parenthood went the way most people expected. Fifty-three senators, mostly Republicans, voted to end the debate and move to a straight up-and-down vote on the funding. That’s a majority. But, according to Senate rules, 60 votes are needed to get past the debate stage. A grand total of two Democrats voted to go on to the vote.
Two.
Now, some of my conservative friends will spend all their time critiquing the Republicans for this. Please know that I’m aware of how the politics of this works. Not all of those Republicans who voted in favor of taking the vote are really on board in their hearts. They knew this strategy wouldn’t work, but they are now free to tell their constituents they voted in favor of defunding Planned Parenthood. It helps keep them in office.
Same for those two Democrats who come from more conservative states—Indiana and West Virginia. They can now boast of their conservative credentials and win reelection.
I also know that Mitch McConnell, supposed leader of Senate Republicans, denied having the defunding effort attached to another bill, which would have made it far easier to pass. Did you know that his wife, Elaine Chao, is on the board of the Bloomberg Foundation, which is stridently pro-abortion and sends millions to Planned Parenthood?
Yes, I know all of this. Yet there still is a significant difference between Republicans and Democrats on issues like this. And this vote is better than the one held in 2011, when the Democrats controlled the Senate and only 42 senators voted for defunding.
Why all the ire toward Republicans when only two Democrats, for political reasons, voted against Planned Parenthood? Put the onus for this failure squarely where it belongs.
Besides their worldview ideology, some Democrats don’t want the campaign financing they get from Planned Parenthood to end. I have no problem saying at this point that the Democrat Party is in bed with pure evil.
By the way, the bill wouldn’t have cut a single dime from what is sometimes euphemistically called “women’s health.” All it would have done is shift the money to other organizations that don’t perform abortions. So the real reason here for opposing the bill is not “women’s health” but false ideology and financial ties to Planned Parenthood.
Just remember what this organization really does:
Of course, it’s not the politicians only who are downplaying the ghastly, grisly, and ghoulish practices revealed in the latest videos. They have their helpers:
So this current attempt to move our society a step closer to sanity has failed. But I am not in despair. I think the cause has been aided by all the attention brought to it, despite the efforts of evil men and women to distort, falsify, and deceive the public. Now is not the time to fold our tents and go away. Now is the time to push forward with even greater boldness.