Lisa Murkowski First GOP Senator to Openly Defend Planned Parenthood

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski was the first Senator in more than 50 years to win an election with a write-in campaign (she crushed Tea Party—and Sarah Palin— favorite and official GOP nominee Joe Miller with a lead of over 10,000 votes this past November), and has a healthy history of defying the general party line: she’s voted in support of the DREAM Act, the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” a tax-cut compromise, and the START deal. Now she’s thrown her support behind Planned Parenthood:

“I believe Planned Parenthood provides vital services to those in need and disagree with their funding cuts in the bill,” Murkowski wrote in a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Vice Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.). “I ask you to consider these programs going forward to determine if there is room for allowing continued funding.”

According to Politico, this letter follows an earlier email she sent to a constituent, outlining her position in greater detail: “I do believe that Planned Parenthood provides vital services to those in need and disagree with its funding cuts contained in the H.R. 1 package. From 2002-2008, Planned Parenthood received $342 million in federal taxpayer money through Title X funding alone. With these funds, Planned Parenthood has provided women throughout the U.S. with important family planning and contraceptive services as well as screening for breast and cervical cancers for low-income women. I believe it is important that Title X organizations continue to receive funding. In Alaska, this includes five centers — two health department clinics, two Planned Parenthood clinics in Sitka and Soldotna and one independent clinic.”

A moderate in the vein of her colleagues Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), Murkowski is known and respected for her willingness to work with Democrats on the other side of the aisle, especially on energy issues. She’s gone on the record with her disdain of Tea Party leader Jim DeMint and there’s no love lost between her and Sarah Palin—Murkowski famously expressed to Katie Couric in a CBS Evening News interview that she thought Palin lacked the “intellectual curiosity” to be president.

Perhaps Murkowski’s “going rogue” moment will inspire other female leaders of the Republican Party to do the same. As Kathleen Hanna said in her speech at the Rally for Women’s Health in New York City, “I’m here because women dying because they can’t afford a pap smear is unacceptable.” Let’s hope the GOP gets the message.

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