GOP Bill Would Roll Back Obama’s Ban On States Defunding Planned Parenthood
Because the measure, which was sent to the House floor on Tuesday, is being moved through a law that allows Congress to rescind recently finalized rules, the bill cannot be filibustered in the Senate, raising its odds for success. Media outlets report on women's health news out of Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas as well.
USA Today:
Congress To Challenge Rule Protecting Planned Parenthood Grants
House Republicans are taking aim this week at an Obama-era rule that bans states from denying federal funds to Planned Parenthood and other health care providers that perform abortions. The House Rules Committee on Tuesday sent legislation to the House floor that would rescind the rule, which prohibits states from withholding family-planning funding from providers for reasons other than their ability to offer family-planning services. (Gaudiano, 2/14)
CQ Roll Call:
Family Planning Rule Could Preview Planned Parenthood Debate
At issue is a regulation finalized last December by the Department of Health and Human Services after 13 states passed laws that would deny health centers who provide abortions from receiving federal family planning dollars, known as Title X funding. In some cases, funds were even routed away from family planning centers that didn’t provide abortions in favor of more general community health centers. The rule clarified that states could not deny a health center funds on any basis other than its ability to adequately provide health services. (Siddons, 2/14)
The Hill:
Republicans Make First Move Targeting Planned Parenthood Funding
“It is not the role of politicians in Washington to usurp the states' 10th Amendment rights and subject our judgment for that of state and local leaders,” said Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.), sponsor of the resolution. But Democrats call the move a thinly shrouded attack on abortion providers. “It’s really about getting at Planned Parenthood, and this is the first salvo in doing so,” said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.). (Hellmann, 2/14)
The Washington Post:
Lawmaker Who Called Pregnant Women A ‘Host’ Pushes Bill Requiring Fathers To Approve Abortion
A bill advancing in Oklahoma would require a woman to get the written consent of the fetus’s father before obtaining an abortion. The bill, which passed out of a House committee Tuesday, would also require a woman “to provide, in writing, the identity of the father of the fetus to the physician who is to perform or induce the abortion,” according to the bill’s language. “If the person identified as the father of the fetus challenges the fact that he is the father, such individual may demand that a paternity test be performed.” (Somashekhar and Wang, 2/14)
The Associated Press:
Texas Anti-Abortion Efforts Renew After Supreme Court Defeat
Undeterred by a U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down sweeping abortion restrictions that were sold as protecting women's health, Texas Republicans are pushing new measures pitched as protecting fetuses, with a hopeful eye toward Washington. New anti-abortion measures are moving through the Legislature — where Democrats are virtually powerless to stop them — and opponents see a shift in GOP strategy after last year's 5-3 Supreme Court ruling that rejected the state's claims of trying to safeguard women and dismantled a 2013 law that prompted many of the state's abortion clinics to close. (2/14)
The Associated Press:
Arkansas House Approves Ban On ‘Sex-Selection’ Abortions
The Arkansas House voted Tuesday to impose fines and prison time on doctors who perform abortions that are based solely on whether the mother wants to have a boy or girl, moving the state closer toward adopting a “sex-selection” ban that opponents say is unconstitutional. The prohibition adopted by the majority-Republican House on a 79-3 vote is the latest among a series of abortion restrictions advancing months after Republicans expanded their majorities. The bill now heads to the majority-GOP Senate. (Demillo, 2/14)
The Associated Press:
Study: Most Texas School Districts Have Scant Sex Education
More than four-fifths of school districts offer no sex education or only teach abstinence in Texas, which has one of the country's highest teen birth rates, according to a study released Tuesday. The study commissioned by Texas Freedom Network, a left-leaning education watchdog group, found that 25 percent of roughly 1,000 school districts statewide didn't offer any sex education during the 2015-2016 school year and about 58 percent only taught students to abstain from sex. (2/14)
