House OKs GOP bill blocking Planned Parenthood funds

Bill likely to be blocked in Senate

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of La., center, leaves the House chamber on Capitol Hill, Friday after a divided House voted to block Planned Parenthood's federal funds for a year, as Republican leaders labored to keep GOP outrage over abortion from spiraling into an impasse with President Barack Obama that could shut down the government. - photo by Associated Press

W Congress Planned Pare Ledb 1 — House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of La., center, leaves the House chamber on Capitol Hill, Friday after a divided House voted to block Planned Parenthood's federal funds for a year, as Republican leaders labored to keep GOP outrage over abortion from spiraling into an impasse with President Barack Obama that could shut down the government. - photo by Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Seeking to avert a government shutdown, Republican leaders drove a bill blocking Planned Parenthood's federal funds through the House on Friday, hoping to contain conservatives' demands for a politically risky showdown with President Barack Obama by striking a quick blow against abortion. The nearly party-line 241-187 vote followed a no-holds-barred debate that included a graphic, poster-sized photo of a scarred, aborted fetus and underscored how abortion has resurfaced as a white-hot political issue. The battle has been rejoined just in time for the 2016 election campaign and next week's historic address to Congress by Pope Francis.

Associated Press

Associated Press