Congress Lets States Block Some Planned Parenthood Money

Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., who is recovering from back surgery, is wheeled away from the Senate chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 30, 2017, following a vote to advance legislation that would allow states to block federal family-planning funds to Planned Parenthood. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The Senate has voted to let states block federal family planning money from going to Planned Parenthood affiliates and other abortion providers.

Senators approved the Republican legislation 51-50. Vice President Mike Pence cast the tie-breaking vote after two GOP senators, Maine’s Susan Collins and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, voted with Democrats against the measure.

The bill erases a regulation imposed by former President Barack Obama that lets states deny family planning funds to an organization only if it is incapable of providing those services.

Some states have passed laws in recent years denying the funds to groups that provide abortions.

Democrats criticized the measure as an attack on women’s rights and abortion. Republicans defended it as a way to let local officials decide where family planning money should go.

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