It’s being reported this morning that several Republicans met with Speaker Johnson and said the won’t support defunding Planned Parenthood in the budget reconciliation bill.

These Republicans who were named are said to be centrists: Reps. Mike Lawler, Jen Kiggans and Brian Fitzpatrick. But there are apparently more centrists who were in the meeting backing this position.

Here’s the news:

Moderate Republicans will likely be anti-abortion advocates’ biggest hurdle in their mission to ban federal funding from Planned Parenthood in a reconciliation package — and some are already voicing their opposition.

Defunding Planned Parenthood was brought up briefly in a Tuesday evening closed-door meeting between Speaker Mike Johnson, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and some moderate Republicans, where they were discussing potential Medicaid cuts, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

One of the sources said that Reps. Mike Lawler, Brian Fitzpatrick and Jen Kiggans were among the moderate Republicans who made it clear to House GOP leadership that they oppose adding a measure to cut federal funding to Planned Parenthood to a reconciliation bill.

When NOTUS asked whether defunding Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers was discussed in the meeting, Johnson demurred, saying while leaving his office that it “was not on our agenda.” Other Republicans were also cautious leaving the meeting when asked on the topic.

“That was sort of a closed-door discussion, I’m not going to go into that now,” Rep. Jeff Van Drew told reporters.

It’s a sad day in America when any Republican opposes defunding Planned Parenthood, especially when there is a strong chance it will be successful. Despicable.