First NPR/PBS, then AmeriCorps, now Planned Parenthood? On Friday, the House moved forward with plans to strip funding for Planned Parenthood, a controversial yet critical agency that provides birth control, cancer screenings, HIV testing, and other lifesaving care. This happened one day after Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) moved the chamber to powerful silence after describing her own abortion.
The House passed the amendment by a vote of 240-185, with all but seven Republicans voting for the cut, and 10 Democrats voting in favor. Following is a list of the seven Republicans who voted against defunding Planned Parenthood: Charlie Bass (NH), Judy Biggert (IL), Mary Bono Mack (CA), Charlie Dent (PA), Robert Dold (IL), Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ), Richard Hanna (NY).
Lieutenant Governor (and former San Francisco Mayor) Gavin Newsom asked his 1.3 million Twitter followers to sign an open letter "to every single representative in the House who voted for this cruel, unconscionable, unthinkable law, and to every senator who still has a chance to stop it."
You can read the open letter here.