This was a vote on final passage of legislation effectively eliminating all federal funding for Planned Parenthood, which provides a wide array of health services for women, including breast cancer screenings, pap smears, and abortions.

Technically, this vote was on an “enrollment correction resolution.” Such resolutions are generally used for making technical changes to previously passed legislation. In this case, the enrollment correction added legislative language defunding Planned Parenthood to a recently passed government-funding bill. During negotiations on the government-funding bill, Senate Democrats agreed to hold an up-or-down vote on cutting all federal funds from Planned Parenthood. Specifically, Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid agreed to bring up this enrollment correction resolution for an up-or-down vote after it had passed the House. 

Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) supported the measure: “Although I personally believe abortion is not a right guaranteed by the Constitution, I recognize the sad reality that abortion on demand is legal in this country. Again, this debate is not about that. It is not about whether Planned Parenthood has the right to perform abortions, and it is not about funding true health care services. The question before us is whether millions of pro-life taxpayers have to fund this entity. Every year since 2000, the government has increased its funding of Planned Parenthood on average $22.2 million per year. As a direct reflection of that, the number of abortions they perform has dramatically increased, even though the overall abortion rate, thank God, in the United States has declined until 2008….I do not understand how anyone can look at this and say there is not a connection, say we are not using taxpayer dollars to promote and fund abortion.”

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) opposed the measure: “For over 90 years, Planned Parenthood has provided comprehensive preventive and primary health care to people, primarily the low-income, uninsured, and Medicaid recipients. Last year, 3 million people across America--that is 1 percent of our population--relied on Planned Parenthood's 800 health centers for cancer screenings, family planning, and annual exams….Planned Parenthood does provide abortion counseling but only for 3 percent of their activities. Ninety-seven percent of their activities have nothing to do with it… Ninety percent of Planned Parenthood's activities are basically preventive.”

The Senate rejected this resolution by a vote of 42-58. 42 Republicans voted “yea.” All 53 Democrats and 5 Republicans voted “nay.” As a result, the Senate rejected legislation effectively eliminating all federal funding for Planned Parenthood, which provides a wide array of health services for women, including breast cancer screenings, pap smears, and abortions.