Tag: Marjorie Dannenfelser

After two GOP Senate candidates saw their campaigns implode when they made controversial comments about abortion and rape, Republicans like Sen. John McCain have been asking their party to just shut up about abortion.

Anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List this week launched a video campaign against President Obama based on the administration's move to shore up family planning services in New Hampshire. Social conservatives on the state's executive council earlier stripped $1.8 million in federal funding from Planned Parenthood affiliates there. New Hampshire officials informed the Obama administration that, in failing to provide key women's health services, the state was violating federal law.

As it turned out, Planned Parenthood did not lose federal funding for family planning and reproductive services in the federal budget for fiscal year 2011 passed Thursday by Congress — and in retaliation, the Susan B. Anthony List announced Friday that it is launching a campaign to target senators who voted for the budget bill.

Colorado U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that the series of Republican anti-abortion bills introduced in the House this month presents pro-choice lawmakers with an opportunity to shed light on the motivations driving such bills. They said that, given the facts, the mainstream American public and complacent lawmakers will not only rally against these specific bills but also more readily stand guard against similar future efforts to cut back on women's rights.

The U.S. House voted down an amendment to the Labor, Health, and Human Services bill on Friday that sought to ban all public funding for Planned Parenthood. A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Betsy Markey, who voted against the amendment, said given the state of the economy, "it's not the time to be focusing on divisive issues like this."