Two weeks ago we brought you news of a Texas study that claimed that the cutback of Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood in Texas has led to fewer women receiving contraception and an increase in unintended births. At the time, we told you why the study was flawed and should be ignored. News comes this week that the director of research of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, a coauthor of the study, has resigned.
In Wisconsin this week, American Life League’s Associate Group Pro-Life Wisconsin celebrated as the state of Wisconsin took $8 million away from Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. Here is what PLW had to say:
Governor Walker signed two pro-life bills into law last Thursday that, together, are expected to eliminate approximately $8 million in public funding from Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin (PPWI), the state’s largest abortion provider. It was fitting that the governor signed these bills at a pro-life pregnancy resource center, Life’s Connection, a model of true women’s health care that heals and gives hope to mother and child.
Pro-Life Wisconsin is grateful to Governor Walker for signing into law legislation that respects the consciences of Wisconsin taxpayers who oppose public funding of abortion. Government must not force us to participate in the killing of our preborn brothers and sisters with our federal and state tax dollars.
Assembly Bill 310, signed into law as Act 151, redirects federal Title X family planning funds away from organizations that perform abortions to public entities including state, county, and local health departments and clinics. This will eliminate $3.5 million from PPWI. Senate Bill 238, signed into law as Act 152, reduces PPWI’s Medicaid reimbursement rate for contraceptive drugs, requiring that PPWI be reimbursed the actual cost they pay for these drugs and not the artificially inflated rate they are currently receiving. This will eliminate $4.5 million from PPWI.
In Ohio, a bill signed into law this week redirects about $1.3 million in state-directed grants from Planned Parenthood health centers to other federally qualified health centers, health departments, and other facilities that don’t perform elective abortions or contract with organizations that do. The money represents about five percent of the organization’s statewide budget.
Our friends at Iowa Right to Life are asking all citizens in the state to contact their legislators in regard to House File 2329. This is a bill that would prohibit “a person from knowingly acquiring, providing, receiving, otherwise transferring, or using a fetal body part in this state, regardless of whether the acquisition, provision, receipt, transfer, or use is for valuable consideration.” In other words, it will ban trafficking of aborted baby remains.
