The movement in Congress to defund Planned Parenthood earned the backing of an influential Democrat in the Senate on Monday.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W. Va.) told Fox News host Neil Cavuto he would vote in support of Sen. Joni Ernst’s (R., Iowa) bill to ban federal tax dollars from funding the organization. The Senate is scheduled to vote on the bill Monday evening in response to a series of videos of Planned Parenthood executives discussing the price of aborted fetal tissue.
"I represent the good people of West Virginia," Manchin said. "And I can tell you this is most troubling. This is disturbing. It's absolutely unacceptable, unconscionable, and there's no way I can continue to vote in support."
Manchin said he would like to see the money that would typically go to Planned Parenthood, around $540 million per year, instead go to women’s health centers around the country.
"I was raised in a family that life is a gift and it's special and you do everything humanly possible you can to protect it and to rejoice when you get a gift from God and this beautiful, beautiful child. That’s who we are," he said.
Manchin will likely be the only Democrat to vote for Ernst’s bill, which is not expected to clear the filibuster proof 60-vote threshold needed to pass the legislation. The Obama administration, which has admitted to repeating Planned Parenthood talking points while defending the organization, has promised to veto any legislation gutting its funding.