Missouri lawmakers try again to ‘defund’ Planned Parenthood

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri lawmakers have passed a stopgap budget plan that again seeks to strip any public funding from Planned Parenthood while paying for Medicaid expansion and pumping money to schools. The GOP-led House on Thursday voted 133-12 to send the bill to Republican Gov. Mike Parson. The budget plan is primarily needed to dole out roughly $1.7 billion in federal funding directly to schools before the end of the state fiscal year in June. But Republicans also added a provision aimed at blocking public funding for Planned Parenthood centers, including clinics that don’t provide abortions.