Senate to vote on defunding Planned Parenthood

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

If it isn't defunded, Congress should at least prohibit them from donating to political campaigns while receiving federal funds. I mean, Planned Parenthood is a corporation, and they engage in a lot of corporate money speech, which the left usually says is bad. It just seems weird that the feds give money to a non-profit which has lots of profits, enabling it to divert those profits into attack ads against Republicans.

The Feds don't just "give" money to Planned Parenthood, they buy the provision of services from them.  I rather doubt that the Koch brothers would be happy if everyone with a political agenda couldn't provide services to the government.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

You don't think it's not even a little disingenuous to suggest that getting a STD test and getting an abortion are comparable activities?

Nope, both are legal women's health activities.

I'd say that abortion is far more comparable to plastic surgery. While sometimes it's done for medical reasons, it's most often done as a lifestyle choice, albeit one far more consequential than plastic surgery, and one done to maintain the status quo rather than to alter it.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I'm glad this bill failed. We Democrats have once again stood up to the Republicans' War on Women, and we must continue the fight to protect women's reproductive rights.

The Republicans are on your side.

Since when has legalizing abortion been in the beliefs of most republicans?

Not most registered Republicans, but most GOP politicians.  Republican-appointed justices handed us Roe v. Wade, and the current SCOTUS, though it is mostly Republican appointees, won't overturn it.  The GOP controlled all branches of government a decade ago and did nothing then too.

Roe is probably gone if the GOP wins the presidency in 2016. I don't see how Ginsburg makes it through 2020, and you can probably get past the Senate with a Huntsman-type - clearly pro-life, but otherwise quite moderate.

While a Republican replacement for one of the progressive justices would be enough to get SCOTUS to agree to some additional restrictions on abortion and replace Casey with a new standard, I think they'll need to replace two of them to be able to outright overturn Roe.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The Republican establishment wants Roe v. Wade upheld.

Yet the overwhelming majority of republican congressmen are solidly pro-life. All but three republican senators just voted to defund the biggest abortion provider in the country.

There is clearly no merit to your theory.

Your argument has no merit.

Public opinion on abortion is that the current law is too lax, so actions such as this one that are seen as tightening it up are beneficial politically. But that opinion is not as draconian as going for a complete ban, yet the base is in favor of it. If Roe were overturned, Republicans in many areas would have to choose between being in favor of banning abortion and losing the general election and not banning abortion and losing the primary. That is not a choice the establishment wants the party to face because a primary establishment goal is not about what to do with power, but with having power. What is unknown, and indeed is unknowable, is whether the establishment's desire to avoid the political fallout that would come from having responsibility for abortion that the courts now have is greater than their desire for restricting abortion.