Mike Pence casts tie-breaking vote in Senate on Planned Parenthood defunding bill

Vice President Mike Pence cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate on Thursday to pass a bill that would allow individual states to defund Planned Parenthood.

Pence's vote was needed to break the 50–50 tie on the bill that would overturn a rule from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) preventing states from blocking Title X funding to Planned Parenthood and other health centers that perform abortions.

The GOP have a 52–48 majority in the Senate, but two Republicans joined the Democrats to vote against the resolution.

The rule was put in place by President Barack Obama days before he vacated the White House. The bill rescinding the HHS rule is now headed to the desk of President Donald Trump.

Through the Title X program, the federal government can directly fund organizations that provide family planning services or award grants to states, which selects money recipients, according to World Magazine.

Under the Hyde Amendment, taxpayer money cannot fund abortions. But some states have opted to direct Title X funds away from organizations that provide family planning services and also perform abortions. An NPR report in 2011 indicated that 25 percent of all Title X grants go to Planned Parenthood and its affiliates. The HHS regulation would ensure that the organization would not lose those taxpayer dollars.

Democrats held the floor throughout the afternoon before the vote and repeatedly urged one more Republican to change their vote to block the measure, Life Site News reported.

Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) described the measure as "another example of the Republican war on women."

"It would let states treat women as second-class citizens who don't deserve the same access to health care as men," he remarked.

The U.S. Congress voted 230–188 in February to overturn the HHS rule under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which allows the House to reverse agency regulations within 60 legislative days.

Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican Leader, said that the HHS regulation "is an unnecessary restriction on states that know their residents own needs a lot better than the Federal Government."

"Fortunately by sending the CRA before us to the president's desk we can return power back to the people and will do so without decreasing funding to women's health care by a penny," he added.