Less than half of Americans have heard of or watched the undercover videos, according to an Aug. 13 Fox News poll, and too many see Planned Parenthood as a women’s health-care provider, not an abortion mill. A shutdown would give Planned Parenthood an opportunity to play the victim, and the majority of taxpayer dollars it receives are from mandatory spending programs like Medicaid, which is not subject to a shutdown.

Rather than pick a losing battle, the NRLC calls for congressional hearings to educate the public on Planned Parenthood’s abhorrent practices. Ms. Tobias also wants pro-lifers to keep their eye on 2016: “What we have to do is get a new pro-life president in, and we’d have a much better chance of actually taking away their money.”

Pro-life leaders understand that the 2013 government shutdown damaged the Republican Party. The GOP’s favorable rating after the 2012 election stood at 43%, according to Gallup, but dropped during the shutdown to 28%—a record low for either party.

Supporters of the 2013 shutdown claim otherwise. After all, they argue, by the 2014 election, the GOP’s Gallup rating had climbed back to 42%, and Republicans won nine additional Senate seats and added 13 House seats. But those victories were despite the shutdown, not because of it. No new senator or representative campaigned by promising more shutdowns.