DONATE
In this Oct. 20, 2003 file photo, Kathy Davis addresses the Indiana House after her nomination as Indiana's lieutenant governor was approved in an unanimous voice vote by the House at the Statehouse in Indianapolis. U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly lost his campaign treasurer Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015 after he was one of two Democrats to vote with Republicans in an unsuccessful effort to strip Planned Parenthood of federal funding.
The Associated PressINDIANAPOLIS — U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly lost his campaign treasurer Wednesday after he was one of two Democrats to vote with Republicans in an unsuccessful effort to strip Planned Parenthood of federal funding.
Former Lt. Gov. Kathy Davis said she resigned from the volunteer post because of Donnelly's vote on the measure that would have cost Planned Parenthood more than $500 million in federal funding it receives each year.
"Yes, I have left my position as Treasurer for Senator Donnelly's campaign and yes, it is because of his vote to defund Planned Parenthood," Davis said in the email to The Indianapolis Star.
Donnelly campaign finance director Kelly Norton said in a statement that the first-term senator "is deeply appreciative to Kathy for the time and attention that she gave" to the campaign's filings to the Federal Election Commission.
The Senate voted 53-46 Monday to advance a GOP bill ending Planned Parenthood's federal funding, but that fell seven short of the 60 votes needed to keep the measure moving toward passage.
The measure was prompted by graphic videos secretly recorded by anti-abortion activists that show Planned Parenthood officials describing how they sometimes provide fetal tissue to medical researchers. Abortion opponents say the recordings caught Planned Parenthood illegally selling the organs for profit, but Planned Parenthood officials say laws allow them to recoup the procedures' costs.
Donnelly issued a statement defending his vote Monday evening.
"I cannot in good faith support federal funding for this organization until the questions of whether other clinics are complying with federal and state laws are answered," Donnelly said.
Donnelly supported a similar measure when he was a member of the U.S. House in 2011.
Davis served as Indiana's first female lieutenant governor under Democratic Gov. Joe Kernan from 2003 to 2005.
Planned Parenthood of Indiana/Kentucky has said its clinics in Indiana do not participate in the fetal tissue program.
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