The real fight over abortion is not Planned Parenthood. And Republicans are dominating.

Public opinion will have huge implications for a potential showdown (and shutdown) over Planned Parenthood in December. It will determine just how hard Republicans can press their case to halt federal funding for the women's health-care provider.

But the largely symbolic fight betrays a pretty significant truth about the larger abortion debate. And that is this: Republicans have been winning this battle big-time at the state level -- even as opinions about abortion remain pretty stagnant.

Well before congressional lawmakers decided to take a stand this summer to cut some $500 million in annual public funds from Planned Parenthood, more than 30 state legislatures were busy passing a historically high number of laws restricting abortion rights. All the while, Americans' opinions on abortion have remained remarkably unchanged -- suggesting this issue, despite the passion involved, isn't necessarily one on which votes are being swung.

From 2011 to 2013, Republican-led state legislatures enacted more restrictions on abortion than in the entire previous decade, according to an analysis from the nonprofit, pro-abortion-rights Guttmacher Institute.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/10/05/the-real-fight-over-abortion-is-not-planned-parenthood-and-republicans-are-dominating/