Attacks on Planned Parenthood have a long history ... and a ferocious present

Planned Parenthood is under serious attack, in Congress and in five states, after the release of a series of misleading, heavily edited videos about fetal tissue donation. According to the Guttmacher Institute's Elizabeth Nash, "This is the longest and broadest set of attacks we have seen." But one thing this is not is the first set of attacks on Planned Parenthood. Those go back decades and they never seem to stop, as Molly Redden details:

1979

The Minnesota legislature passes a sweeping law to end all state family planning funding to groups offering abortion, abortion counseling, or referrals. A federal judge strikes down the law in 1980, noting, "Planned Parenthood's unpopularity in and of itself and without reference to some independent considerations in the public interest cannot justify [the law]." Similar laws in Arizona and North Dakota also tank. Anti-abortion activists start seeking a work-around to the rulings. [...]

1987

The Reagan administration tries a more indirect way to end family planning funding to groups that also provide abortions by establishing the "gag rule." The rule prevented family planning clinics that receive federal money from providing abortion counseling. Clinton will later reverse the gag rule shortly after it survives a Supreme Court challenge. [...]

1994

Michigan passes a new law that will become a model for stripping family planning funds from groups that provide abortions. The law creates a funding formula that assigns "demerits" to organizations that perform or refer for abortions. Organizations with demerits are the last to receive state funding for pregnancy prevention.

The Georgia legislature passes its own version of the gag rule, affecting $4 million in family planning services. "At the top of their hit list is Planned Parenthood," writes the Atlanta Journal and Constitution's editorial board. [...]

2003

Rather than continue to finance several court battles over budget measures to defund Planned Parenthood, the Missouri legislature simply eliminates all state funding for family planning.

Texas approves a one-year budget that bars the use of state family planning funds by groups that offer abortions (except in emergencies) or that contract with organizations offering abortions.

And so on. That's just a small sampling of the attacks Planned Parenthood has faced in recent decades, as compiled by Redden. And while Planned Parenthood has survived, and remains popular, imagine how much stronger women's health care would be in this country if one of the major providers, especially for lower-income women, wasn't constantly lobbying in legislatures and fighting in courts to keep from having its ability to provide care slashed.