Pence Calls Casting Tie-Breaking Vote To Defund Planned Parenthood One of Great Honors of His Life

Vice President Mike Pence told social conservatives gathered for an event in Washington, D.C., on Thursday night that casting the deciding vote to defund Planned Parenthood was a “great honor.”

In March 2017, Pence broke a 50-50 tie in the Senate on legislation which allowed states to withhold funds from the nation’s top abortion provider, according to USA Today.

GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine had broken ranks, necessitating the vice president to step in as president of the Senate.

“I don’t know if I have had a greater honor than to cast the tie-breaking vote to defund Planned Parenthood,” Pence told attendees at the gala celebrating the 40th anniversary of Concerned Women for America on Thursday, The Daily Caller reported.

“I couldn’t be more proud to serve as vice president for a president who stands without apology for the sanctity of human life,” Pence added. “This president will always stand for the unalienable right to life.”

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CBN News congressional correspondent Abigail Robertson, who served as master of ceremonies for the event, told The Western Journal that Pence’s remarks were very well received.

“Vice President Mike Pence spoke to an appreciative crowd at the CWA 40th anniversary gala, receiving over ten standing ovations,” Robertson said. “His comments on efforts to defund Planned Parenthood definitely resounded with the audience.”

“Many in the crowd commented on the passion in Pence’s remarks, with one attendee telling me that he is a politician who walks the walk when it comes to standing for biblical and constitutional principles in our country,” she added.

Pence’s remarks definitely resonated with Concerned Women for America President Penny Nance.

“Mike Pence understands that American taxpayers do not support Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, nor their insidious behavior,” Nance said in a statement to The Western Journal.

“PPA has been caught aiding and abetting people they believed to be sex traffickers, covering up child abuse and selling baby body parts,” she added. “The time has come to reprogram our tax dollars to other worthy organizations that care for poor women and their babies but do not destroy human life.”

In January, Pence made a surprise visit to the 46th annual March for Life in Washington.

The march is meant to protest the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which overturned all state laws outlawing abortion nationwide.

“It’s an extraordinarily important event,” the vice president told Ben Shapiro on the conservative commentator’s radio program, which was broadcast live at the March for Life.

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“You think 46 years ago this month the majority of the Supreme Court of the United States turned its back on the unalienable right to life,” he said.

Pence went on to observe, “And here nearly a half-century later, generations of Americans have come together to say, ‘No, we are going to put the sanctity of life back at the center of American law,’ I believe in our lifetime we will accomplish that.”

In a tweet after his appearance at the event, Pence highlighted some of the actions the Trump administration has taken to advance the pro-life cause.

Spoke w/ @BenShapiro & all his listeners at @March_For_Life about how @POTUS has been STANDING for LIFE. We’ve reinstated the Mexico City Policy, allowed states to defund Planned Parenthood & nominated judges who will uphold our God-given liberties enshrined in our Constitution.

— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) January 18, 2019

“Spoke w/ @BenShapiro & all his listeners at @March_For_Life about how @POTUS has been STANDING for LIFE. We’ve reinstated the Mexico City Policy, allowed states to defund Planned Parenthood & nominated judges who will uphold our God-given liberties enshrined in our Constitution,” he wrote.

The Trump administration’s most recent victory on the pro-life front came when the Department of Health and Human Services implemented a new rule for Title X family-planning health services last month, which resulted in Planned Parenthood choosing to stop taking federal dollars.

The rule precludes family-planning providers who receive federal money from recommending abortion. Title X funds were never authorized to pay for abortion procedures themselves.

However, because money is fungible, Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers have been able (until now) to use the federal dollars to help subsidize the overall costs of their clinics.

What an honor to be with @vp @GovMikeHuckabee and @CWforA @YWforA last night #cwa40th #Winning pic.twitter.com/E9Zx9cH9Lx

— Penny Nance (@PYNance) September 13, 2019

In addition to Pence, other featured speakers at CWA’s gala included former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, GOP Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, CWA founder and chairwoman Dr. Beverly LaHaye and Nance.

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