After the Republican-controlled House voted to strip federal funding of Planned Parenthood for procedures like cancer screenings and STD tests, activists opposed to a woman’s right to choose want to make sure that the amendment defunding the woman’s health organization remains in the budget bill after the House negotiates with the Senate on the final Continuing Resolution. A group of prominent Religious Right leaders signed a letter insisting that Boehner “accept nothing less” than the elimination of Planned Parenthood’s federal funding, and rely heavily on Live Action’s discredited and doctored smear videos to justify their demands. Signatories include Lila Rose, Marjorie Dannenfelser, Tom McClusky, Penny Nance, Phyllis Schlafly, Frank Cannon, Gary Bauer, and Erick Erickson:
Dear Speaker Boehner,
Planned Parenthood, a scandal-plagued abortion organization, must be held accountable for abusing innocent young victims while receiving hundreds of millions in federal dollars each year.
They must be defunded of federal tax dollars, and now is the time to do it. The House vote in support of Rep. Mike Pence’s Amendment No. 11 to the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 (H.R. 1) to prevent government funding for the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, is an excellent start.
However, the House vote on the Pence Amendment is nothing more than symbolic unless it remains intact through the legislative process. Defunding Planned Parenthood must be a non-negotiable in the Continuing Resolution and we urge you to accept nothing less than this outcome.
…
As debate over the Continuing Resolution continues we urge you to do everything you can to ensure that the Pence Amendment remains intact in the final version of the Continuing Resolution. Planned Parenthood is not safe for women, it is not safe for young girls, and it must be defunded now.
Meanwhile, Randall Terry led a sit-in at Boehner’s office where protesters, except for him, were arrested, and threatened Boehner and other House Republican leaders with primary challenges if Planned Parenthood’s funding wasn’t withdrawn. “If they do not fulfill this obligation,” Terry said, “we will run primaries against Mr. Boehner and other House leaders,” as it would be “a betrayal of God Himself.”
