The Obama administration's recent end-around provision of nearly $400,000 to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Memphis reminds us that the battle between life and death in this country still rages.

It also reminds us that there are lines of demarcation in this battle -- lines especially visible in the extremes to which the proponents of death will go to ensure that would-be mothers have a place to have their pre-born children killed.

Despite the work that Republican Gov. Bill Haslam and Tennessee legislators have done to cut off all state funding for Planned Parenthood, approximately 400,000 taxpayer dollars will now flow into Tennessee via the federal apparatus.

What is it with the left's obsession with death?

The money was given under the auspices of the Title X Family Planning Services Program from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Grants Management.

Democrat U.S. Congressman Steve Cohen, who represents the Memphis area, boasted: "Planned Parenthood Greater Memphis Region has been helping Memphis and Shelby County residents get the health care they need to lead happier, healthier lives for years. These new federal funds will help ensure the Title X Family Planning Program reaches those who need help the most in underserved communities."

But Brian Harris, president of Tennessee Right to Life, expressed disappointment that "tax funding would be directed to private organizations promoting and profiting from the killing of unborn children, this end run around the people of Tennessee will serve to underscore the urgent need to elect a pro-life president, Senate and Congress in November."

In 2011, Gov. Haslam and Republican legislators did their best to shift all Title X funding to health clinics that didn't perform abortions.  But according to media reports, the governor and legislators unknowingly overlooked a linguistic error in the legislation that provided the loophole the federal government needed to support and fund death once more.

Life is much harder to defend when Planned Parenthood enjoys nearly unfettered access to the national pocketbook.

Nate Kellum is senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom and is director of its Memphis Regional Service Center in Tennessee.