Defunding Planned Parenthood is good politics, even for Democrats, based on polls

Congress will soon have the opportunity to vote on another measure to uphold conscience rights and make the United States a more welcoming place for the unborn. Soon, legislation to defund the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, will come up for a vote.

More than $500 million in federal funds Planned Parenthood receives each year makes taxpayers complicit in its barbaric agenda, which includes trafficking in the body parts of aborted babies, and abortion on demand up to the moment of birth, a practice defended by Planned Parenthood’s champion, Hillary Clinton, during the third presidential debate.

Most Americans agree with the response Donald Trump gave on late-term abortion: “That may be OK with Hillary. But it’s not OK with me.”

Polls consistently show Americans reject abortion after five months of pregnancy, when an unborn child can feel pain, with the greatest margin of opposition coming from millennials, women and minorities.

Turns out a majority of Americans also agree with the current proposal to redirect the taxpayer dollars that Planned Parenthood currently receives to comprehensive, whole-woman healthcare centers. These healthcare clinics outnumber Planned Parenthood 20-to-one nationwide and provide a full array of health services, including mammograms, prenatal care, and treatment for diabetes, hypertension and more, as well as contraception and STD screenings.

Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., announced this week that the budget resolution making its way through Congress includes a provision to reallocate Planned Parenthood’s funding in this way and. President Trump previously pledged to sign such legislation into law.

New polling released this week by the Susan B. Anthony List finds that 56 percent of voters in 2018 Senate battleground states — Ohio, Montana, North Dakota, Missouri, Wisconsin and Florida — oppose giving any tax dollars to Planned Parenthood. About 60 percent would be less likely to vote for their U.S. senator if he or she voted to give money to Planned Parenthood rather than direct it to comprehensive community health centers, with 44 percent saying they were “much less likely” to reward Senators with their support.

In these states, all of which are currently represented in the Senate by a Democrat up for re-election in 2018, both Republicans and Democrats oppose taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood and favor money being redirected to community health clinics.

In North Dakota, 77 percent said they would be less likely to vote to re-elect Sen. Heidi Heitkamp if she votes to fund Planned Parenthood. About 64 percent would be less likely to vote for Sen. Jon Tester of Montana. About 60 percent would be less likely to support Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio.

In Missouri, 57 percent of voters are less likely to vote for incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill if she votes for taxpayer financing of Planned Parenthood. About 58 percent are less likely to support Wisconsin’s Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin. About 53 percent are less likely to vote for Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida.

Obama’s former aide, Michael Wear, says he sees pro-life Democrats increasingly leaving the party to signal their “moral discomfort” with the party’s radical abortion agenda.

More From The Washington Examiner: