State lawmakers take up effort to defund Planned Parenthood

After Congress failed in its recent attempt to cut off federal funding, lawmakers in several states are taking aim at the organization. Meanwhile, the House voted Wednesday to ban teaching health centers from using federal dollars to train physicians on how to perform abortions.

USA Today: State Lawmakers Work To Defund Planned Parenthood
Legislators in several states are trying to do what social conservatives in Congress failed to do last month: cut off federal funding for Planned Parenthood. The effort in Congress to end the flow of federal dollars to the organization brought the federal government to the brink of a shutdown. Now state legislatures — last year's elections gave Republicans control of both chambers in 26 states — are taking aim at Planned Parenthood (Keen, 5/26).

The Associated Press: House Bans Funds For Teaching Abortion Techniques
The House voted Wednesday to ban teaching health centers from using federal money to train doctors on how to perform abortions, the latest in a series of anti-abortion measures pushed by the Republican majority. The author of the measure, Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said she wanted to make it "crystal clear that taxpayer money is not being used to train health care providers to perform abortion procedures." The proposal was presented as an amendment to the latest of several GOP bills to restrict funding for the health care act that was enacted last year. This bill gives Congress control over spending for a program to encourage health centers to provide training to medical residents. The amendment applies to funding in that grant program (5/25).