海角大神

This story was updated on Aug. 6, 2015.

听Republicans are hoping that revulsion over a series of stealth videos featuring Planned Parenthood will swing the politics of abortion in their favor.

On Monday, the Senate took up a GOP bill to strip the women鈥檚 health-care provider of its $500 million in annual federal funding. Democrats blocked the bill from moving forward, but it was a chance for Republicans to go on record with their support for the idea.

Conservative Republicans warn they could attach a defunding rider to must-pass legislation in the fall, threatening a government shutdown. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R) of Kentucky, however, states "there will be no government shutdown."

Social conservatives, marginalized over gay marriage, have been looking for every opportunity they can to put forward their antiabortion agenda, a core value for them. They鈥檝e made steady inroads at the state level, bringing the number of enacted state restrictions on abortion to 282 in the past five years, according to the .

But nationally, abortion as a GOP issue has often backfired in a country that is consistently split on the issue.

Republicans are 鈥渓atching on to the videos because they are very disturbing for anybody,鈥� especially their base, explains Dianne Bystrom, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University in Ames. The series of sting videos shows jarring visuals and Planned Parenthood employees casually discussing the sale of aborted fetal-tissue parts for medical research.

The current GOP effort 鈥渞eminds me of the partial-birth abortion debate,鈥� she says. But, she adds, 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be tricky for them.鈥�

Nearly 20 years ago, graphic descriptions and depictions of 鈥減artial-birth abortion鈥� roiled Congress and the presidential election. The gruesomeness was so powerful that it eventually led to a federal ban on this type of late-term abortion in 2003. The US Supreme Court upheld the ban in 2007.

More recently, the GOP has hit some roadblocks in its efforts to restrict abortion. In 2011, Republicans tried 鈥� and failed 鈥� to defund Planned Parenthood. In 2012, comments about 鈥渓egitimate rape鈥� by a GOP Senate candidate appalled many women voters, and President Obama won reelection as Democrats pointed to a GOP 鈥渨ar on women.鈥�

Earlier this year, the House Republican leadership had to pull back a bill that banned late-term abortions because its own female members complained that the legislation didn鈥檛 allow exceptions for rape and incest.

鈥淏y and large, most people support Planned Parenthood,鈥� Ms. Bystrom says.

Only a small percentage of Planned Parenthood鈥檚 services involve abortion, and those are not supported by tax dollars. The group provides a wide variety of preventive services, from birth control to screenings for disease. One in 5 women has relied on Planned Parenthood for health care in her lifetime, and many of its patients are low- and middle-income women.

According to a poll carried out for Planned Parenthood by Democratic pollster Hart Research Associates, of registered voters oppose cutting off funding for the health-care provider. The poll was taken more than a week after the first video was released by the Center for Medical Progress, an antiabortion group.

In a Washington Post opinion piece, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards called the video claims of selling parts for profit 鈥渇alse and absurd,鈥� though she quickly apologized for the tone of comments that were recorded. It is not illegal to pass on aborted fetal tissue for medical research or to have those costs covered, though trafficking is illegal.

鈥淎ttacking this funding is attacking women who need preventive health care,鈥� Ms. Richards wrote.

Republicans, well aware of the trickiness of the issue, sought to make the Senate defunding bill more palatable by diverting the Planned Parenthood funds to other women鈥檚 health organizations that don鈥檛 perform abortions. Also, the bill was sponsored by a woman, freshman Sen. Joni Ernst (R) of Iowa, who ran an unabashedly antiabortion campaign last year.

鈥淎s a mother and a grandmother, the gravity of Planned Parenthood鈥檚 callous and morally reprehensible behavior cannot be ignored,鈥� she said in a floor speech Monday.

But the moderate Sen. Susan Collins (R) of Maine voiced concerns that other health centers would be overwhelmed if they had to pick up Planned Parenthood patients 鈥� a point vigorously made by Democrats. Senator Collins supported an amendment with fellow Republican Mark Kirk of Illinois to have the Department of Justice investigate whether Planned Parenthood had engaged in any wrongdoing with the fetuses.

Political analyst Kyle Kondik points out that while the 鈥渨ar on women鈥� strategy worked for Democrats in 2012, it didn鈥檛 in 2014 鈥� with the election of Senator Ernst as a good example.

鈥淒emocrats in recent years have placed a very heavy focus on using reproductive rights issues as a way to attack Republicans. There鈥檚 a sense among some that the Democrats have taken it too far,鈥� he says.

Mr. Kondik, with the University of Virginia Center for Politics, wonders how much traction the issue is even getting nationally. Indeed, 52 percent of Americans are not following the controversy closely, according to a 海角大神 Science Monitor/TIPP poll that was conducted July 25-30. Americans are paying much more attention to the Iran nuclear agreement and Hillary Clinton鈥檚 e-mails than they are to the Planned Parenthood videos, according to the poll.

Of those who are closely following the issue (60 percent of Republicans, 46 percent of independents, and 36 percent of Democrats), a majority 鈥� 58 percent 鈥� say that funding for Planned Parenthood should be cut off.

Still, Raghavan Mayur, president of TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence, which conducts the Monitor/TIPP poll, does not think GOP leaders in Congress will go for a government shutdown over the issue.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not going to escalate like Obamacare,鈥� says Mr. Mayur, referring to the 2013 partial-government shutdown over the Affordable Care Act. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think the country is in the mood for that kind of thing.鈥�

Meanwhile, Mr. Obama has said he would veto any bill defunding the women鈥檚 health-care provider.

But that won鈥檛 stop the Planned Parenthood issue from being used as a political rallying cry. Both parties are already fundraising over it.