Obama veto of bill to defund Planned Parenthood stands as House vote comes up short

The US House of Representatives has voted 240-186 to override President Barack Obama’s veto of a bill to place a one-year moratorium on Planned Parenthood’s federal funding and repeal large parts of Obamacare, which also subsidizes abortion. The measure needed two-thirds support and so it failed to pass.

The legislation originally passed Congress 240-181 in the House and 52 to 47 in the Senate, but Obama vetoed it, declaring that the bill “would reverse the significant progress we have made in improving health care in America” and “disproportionately impact low-income individuals.”

Rep. Diane Black (R-TN), one of House’s leading proponents of defunding legislation, reacted to the veto by declaring, “President Obama’s gall is stunning. He spent this week discussing the need to ‘protect innocent people’ and ‘save more lives’ yet he callously vetoed a bill to protect the most innocent and vulnerable among us.”

The override was never expected to attain the 67 Senate votes and 290 House votes needed to make it law without Obama’s signature, but serves symbolic value as the first defunding bill to reach a President’s desk. Pro-life advocates are optimistic that with a pro-life President, a similar measure can see passage next year.