Pro-life activists had hoped that the law Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed stripping Planned Parenthood of federal funding would catch on. It has. Tennessee, Wisconsin, Texas, Kansas and North Carolina lawmakers have all taken up measures targeting the agency’s funding, USA Today reported Friday.
Daniels signed a law May 10 that bars Medicaid money from going to any organization that performs abortions, including Planned Parenthood. Anti-abortion activists hailed the measure a victory Congress was unable to deliver on earlier in the year.
In Tennessee, a state Senate committee passed a budget bill amendment to deny funding to the agency. Wisconsin’s Joint Finance Committee approved a measure to deny more than $1 million in family-planning money to Planned Parenthood. The North Carolina House passed a budget that bars the state from giving the agency any grants or contracts.
In Texas, the state Senate put forth a bill to prohibit the agency from delivering services through the state’s Women’s Health Program.
"There's an inherent conflict of interest for abortion providers … to be doing family planning," said Texas state Sen.
Robert Deuell, a Republican who sponsored the legislation.
Kansas lawmakers passed a budget that includes an amendment ending family-planning funding for Planned Parenthood.
"I would not want one penny of my tax dollars going to fund an organization that does a public harm," said Mark Gietzen, board chairman of the Kansas Coalition for Life.
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