House passes bill that would clean out Planned Parenthood's federal cash trough

From a colleague on Capitol Hill, good news from the US House of Representatives:

The House passed Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act (H.R. 3762) by a vote of 240-189. 239 Republicans and 1 Democrat (Peterson) voted in favor, and 182 Democrats and 7 Republicans (Buck, Dold, Hanna, Jones, Meadows, Salmon, Walker) voted against. 5 Members were absent. The roll call can be viewed here.

In addition to overturning certain provisions of Obamacare, H.R. 3762 contains a one year moratorium on mandatory funding for “prohibited entities” that received over $350 million in Medicaid funding in FY2014.  Prohibited entities are defined as non-profit essential community providers who provide elective abortions. Significantly, this would stop mandatory funding to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider.

A GAO report issued earlier this year showed that in the most recent year covered by the report (2012), Planned Parenthood received $507.5 million from federal programs.  $400.6 million, or 79% of those funds, were mandatory funding through the Medicaid program alone.

The abortion provider funding moratorium in H.R. 3762 would also apply to other mandatory funding programs like Title V and Title XX block grants.

Listen here to Rep. Diane Black's speech on defunding Planned Parenthood. 

Hyatt Hotels nixes on-demand porn

My friend and colleague Dawn Hawkins of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation sends the encouraging news below about weaning individuals and our culture off of soul-sapping and addictive pornography:

I am thrilled to announce that Hyatt Hotel Corporation has changes its policy and will now remove all on-demand pornography from their guestrooms worldwide! This is a major victory for the movement to end sexual exploitation. Hyatt was eager to work with NCOSE (National Center on Sexual Exploitation) after we reached out to them to share our concerns about the neurological and psychological harms of pornography. Without even being placed on our Dirty Dozen list, Hyatt listened to NCOSE's message and worked to change its policy in order to provide a safe and positive environment for its guests. This reveals the greater cultural shift that is on its way. As more individuals and companies refuse to profit from, or facilitate, sexual exploitation, the stronger our movement gets.

PLEASE THANK HYATT Tweet at @HyattTweets and thank Hyatt for their policy change and their commitment to oppose sexual exploitation. When we thank companies that are making the right choices, it gives others more incentive to follow suit and to create a culture of valuing dignity above profits.

Sincerely, Dawn Hawkins VP & Executive Director, National Center on Sexual Exploitation Director, Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation

Planned Parenthood late-term abortion procedure video featured in House hearing

Planned Parenthood is a billion-dollar "nonprofit" enterprise that gets half a billion in our tax dollars and performs a third of a million abortions every year.

Below is the latest news report on Planned Parenthood, from my colleague on Capitol Hill:

Yesterday the House Judiciary held its second hearing on Planned Parenthood. This hearing focused on the abortion procedures at Planned Parenthood and witnesses included Dr. Anthony Levatino, a former abortionist; Sue Thayer, a former Planned Parenthood clinic manager; and Luana Stoltenberg, a woman who has suffered from 3 previous abortions. During Dr. Levatino’s testimony he showed a segment of an undercover video by Live Action about a late abortion procedure. Later in the hearing Rep. Cicilline (D-RI) offered a motion to strike the video shown by Dr. Levatino, and due to absences the Cicilline motion prevailed.  Once more Members returned to the room, a Republican motion to restore the video to the record was offered, and the Republicans prevailed. 

Links to witness testimony, Member statements and questions are available below. More information about the hearing, including footage of the entire hearing, can be found at the Committee’s webpage here. See also this story in The Hill about Sue Thayer’s testimony, “Planned Parenthood billed Medicaid for abortion services, ex-employee claims.”

Witness Testimony

Dr. Anthony Levatino, text, video and video clip shown during testimony

Ms. Susan Thayer, text, video

Ms. Caroline Fredrickson, text

Ms. Luana Stoltenberg, text, video

Member statements and questions

Chairman Goodlatte (R-VA) opening statement and question to Levatino, question to Stoltenberg

Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) opening statement and question to Levatino 1 and 2

Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA) question to Fredrickson (includes clip of CMP video)

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) questions to Fredrickson and Thayer

Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) question to Levatino, question to Stoltenberg

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) remarks

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) questions

Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID) questions

Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) question to Thayer 1, 2 and 3