Susan Collins taking heat for Planned Parenthood vote [View all]

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Source: Portland Press Herald

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins is coming under unusual fire from women’s health groups for supporting a Republican-backed effort to end federal funding for Planned Parenthood in a Senate vote Monday.

But Collins’ office said the Maine senator voted for the defunding bill only on procedural grounds, because it would enable the introduction of an alternative measure that would maintain funding for most services while ordering an investigation by the Justice Department.

“Unfortunately, Senator Susan Collins surprised Maine women by backing away from previous statements and voting in support of defunding the country’s largest, most trusted women’s health care provider,” Planned Parenthood of Northern New England said in a statement Tuesday.

The Mabel Wadsworth Women’s Health Center in Bangor, a nonprofit group that provides a range of reproductive health services, also expressed disappointment in Collins’ action.

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Read more: http://www.pressherald.com/2015/08/04/collins-taking-heat-for-planned-parenthood-vote/