During his improbable path to the White House, Donald Trump regularly said things that political observers long-assumed would disqualify a man from being president.
In most cases, his controversial positions or statements were most offensive to those who lean left, but in a few notable instances, it was conservatives who were most horrified by the president-elect's remarks.
One such instance was Trump's repeated claims in a debate during the Republican primaries that Planned Parenthood has "helped millions of women."
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It was remarkable that the frontrunner for the GOP nomination would be defending an organization that party leaders had spent years vilifying as immoral and unethical.
Ted Cruz, Trump's lead adversary in the primary, tried his best to exploit the billionaire's departure from GOP orthodoxy. "Donald Trump is just plain wrong," concluded an ad run by the Texas senator that apparently did very little to halt Trump's march to the nomination.
And yet, Planned Parenthood supporters have little reason to feel good about the organization's fate under a Trump administration. Despite recognizing the national nonprofit for the myriad health services it provides in clinics across the country, from cancer screenings to STD testing, Trump pledged on a few occasions that he would cut federal funding from the organization because it performs abortions.
Although federal law prohibits such funds from being used for abortions, Republicans have long argued that any funding that goes to the group has the effect of subsidizing abortions by allowing the group to divert money from other sources to abortions.
Whatever Trump's intentions on Planned Parenthood are, Republicans in Congress have made clear they are going to force the future president's hand on the issue. They could move to cut off roughly $400 million in Medicaid funds from the group immediately.
"We've already shown what we believe with respect to funding of Planned Parenthood," House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said recently. "Our position has not changed."
Democrats are gearing up for a fight, well-aware that public opinion shows majority support for the nonprofit.
"They may well be able to succeed, but the women of America are going to know what that means," Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., tells the New York Times. "And we're going to call Republicans on the carpet for that."
Republicans, who hold a 52-48 majority in the Senate, may not quite have the votes to get a defunding bill past a filibuster, let a lone approved . Two Republican senators –– Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska –– have opposed previous efforts to defund the organization. On the other hand, there are two Democrats in the Senate who have previously voted in support of defunding –– Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Joe Donnelly of Indiana.
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