Anti-abortion group keeps pressure on efforts to defund Planned Parenthood

The Susan B. Anthony List recently hired a lobbyist to keep the pressure on lawmakers to strip Planned Parenthood of federal funding, lobbying records show.

The anti-abortion group hired Brian Duggan during the spring recess, lobbying records show, suggesting that the group hopes such legislation can pass. It did not immediately return a call for comment.

The House voted largely along party lines, 240-185,to defund Planned Parenthood in February. The Senate rejected the measure, 42-58, just before the spring recess.

Duggan, a former lobbyist for Americans United for Life Action, recently struck out on his own.

He signed up the National Organization for Marriage in January to support the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and a resolution calling for the government to support the law in court. The National Organization for Marriage paid him $18,000 during the first trimester of 2011, lobbying records show.

Planned Parenthood is barred from using the more than $75 million it gets every year from the federal government to provide abortions. The organization says 90 percent of the care it provides to 3 million women every year is preventive. 

This is the first time the Susan B. Anthony List has hired a lobbyist, according to records.