Planned Parenthood Government Showdown Coming? Some Allege That Ted Cruz Is To Blame


Planned Parenthood has been under intense scrutiny since the Center for Medical Progress videos detailed the grotesque practice of harvesting aborted baby body parts. Planned Parenthood has distanced itself from those in the videos and outright denied the allegation, but as the Inquisitr reported in July, #WomenBetrayed protests have erupted as a response to the leaked videos.

This led Joni Ernst and her fellow Republican senators to try to pass a bill that would’ve diverted federal funds for abortion by preventing Medicaid reimbursements and family planning services funding from going to Planned Parenthood, and sending it to another community health service provider, reports the Huffington Post. Senator and 2016 Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz has now taken the spotlight on the issue.

Cruz was recently on a national conference call, saying that Republican leaders merely wanted a “show vote” to simply look like they wanted to defund Planned Parenthood. Democrats only want to keep Planned Parenthood funding, but all-in-all, Senator Cruz thinks neither one wants to vote on the matter in a bill that must pass.

“Here is the challenge,The leadership of both parties, both the Democrats and Republicans, want an empty show vote. They want a vote on Planned Parenthood that has no teeth or no consequence, which allows Republicans to vote for defunding, Democrats to vote for continuing funding, and nothing to change. But the leadership of both parties have publicly said they do not want the vote tied to any legislation that must pass.”

Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell bristled at the idea, as he stated that “We have been down this road before,” as he rejected the idea of another government shutdown on a particular issue that he alleges to believe in.

McConnell is likening the Planned Parenthood fight to the ObamaCare government shutdown, and also the Newt Gingrich/President Bill Clinton standoff that also produced a government shutdown. Though there are mixed responses to the Gingrich/Clinton iteration, some still blame Ted Cruz for the Cruz/Obama standoff. Senator Cruz says he was motivated by the Planned Parenthood videos that the Center for Medical progress published, and sees this as issue of President Obama wanting to keep federal funds for one specific organization, not women’s health in general.

“It will be a decision of the president’s and the president’s alone whether he would veto funding for the federal government because of a commitment to ensuring taxpayer dollars continue to flow to what appears to be a national criminal organization.”

Since Republican leadership appears to be buckling under the pressures of a Government shutdown showdown, Senator Ted Cruz is asking America’s pastors to contact Congress to urge them to support the fight, according to the Washington Post reports.

Senator Cruz shrugged off the claim that he is shutting down the government over the Planned Parenthood funding as “nonsense,” and said “we can expect President Obama and many of the congressional Democrats to cry loudly that if Congress uses its authority, Congress will be quote ‘shutting down the government’.”

Planned Parenthood is said to need its over $500 million annually because of the necessary women’s healthcare it provides, but according to American Life League, Planned Parenthood top executives make an average of $345, 338 in 2013.

The Planned Parenthood defunding fight, that Senator Ted Cruz is leading the way for, has no date set at this time.

[Image via Creative Commons]

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