Trump action on health care could cost Planned Parenthood

Cutting off Planned Parenthood from taxpayer money is a long-sought dream of social conservatives, but it's a loser in the minds of some GOP strategists.

Democrats pledge to defend the group, and they point to the issue of birth control and women's health as helping them win Senate races in New Hampshire and Nevada this year.

Collins has defended Planned Parenthood, saying it "provides important family planning, cancer screening, and basic preventive health care services to millions of women across the country."

Though Planned Parenthood says it performed 324,000 abortions in 2014, the most recent year tallied, the vast majority of women seek out contraception, testing and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, and other services including cancer screenings.

The drive against Planned Parenthood picked up steam in 2015 after an anti-abortion group called the Center for Medical Progress released secretly-recorded videos that it claimed showed Planned Parenthood officials profiting from sales of fetal tissue for medical research.

The defunding measure would take away roughly $400 million in Medicaid money from the group in the year after enactment, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, and would result in roughly 400,000 women losing access to care.