WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) released the following statement after voting to proceed to S. 1881, legislation to defund Planned Parenthood and redirect its taxpayer funding to other entities that provide women’s health care services, including community health centers:

“I am deeply disappointed the U.S. Senate today rejected legislation to protect both women’s health and the lives of unborn children. If individual organs and tissues can be harvested from aborted babies, how can the case be made that these are not human lives being destroyed? Why do we place more value on the parts and pieces of a life than the life as a whole?

“Kansans have made it clear they don’t want their taxes contributing to abortion providers, and I have worked to make their voices heard here in Washington. Women deserve affordable health care, which is already being offered by a number of organizations that have nothing to do with abortions. We can and should support these health providers, and we can and should protect the unborn. S. 1881 would be a significant step in accomplishing both goals, and I believe it should have passed with broad support.”

Last week, Sen. Moran joined senators from across the country in asking Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell to cooperate fully as Congress investigates this organization that receives hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars. Click here to read Sen. Moran’s full letter to the HHS Secretary.

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