Alabama's Republican Gov. Robert Bentley is choking off funds for Planned Parenthood under Medicaid, the third state to move against the organization amid a controversy over the group's sale of fetal tissue.
The decision, announced Thursday, follows a similar move
in Louisiana to cancel the Medicaid contract there.
Separately, New Hampshire's executive council rejected a family planning contract for Planned Parenthood,
The Hill reports.
A Senate vote to defund the group federally
failed Monday.
"The deplorable practices at Planned Parenthood have been exposed to Americans, and I have terminated any association with the organization in Alabama," Bentley said in a statement.
"As a doctor and Alabama's Governor, the issue of human life, from conception to birth and beyond, is extremely important to me. I respect human life, and I do not want Alabama to be associated with an organization that does not."
The furor over federal funding to Planned Parenthood comes after disturbing undercover videos – taken by an anti-abortion group – have shown Planned Parenthood officials discussing the price of fetal tissue for medical research.
Planned Parenthood denies wrongdoing,
and says compensation was legal and covered expenses only.
Bentley wrote a letter to Planned Parenthood saying the state is exercising its ability to terminate the Medicaid contract within 15 days' written notice. It gives the group 60 days to ask for a fair hearing if it disputes the move.
Nationwide, Planned Parenthood receives about 75 percent of its roughly $500 million in annual government funding from Medicaid, The Hill reports.
Planned Parenthood Southeast CEO Staci Fox issued a statement in response to the governor's announcement.
"We are disappointed that Governor Bentley has been distracted by a deceptive attack against our organization instead of staying focused on what really matters to women in Alabama," Planned Parenthood Southeast CEO Staci Fox said in a statement,
AL.com reports.
"What Alabamians need is more access to health care, not less."
Fox added that federal courts have ruled federal law prohibits state from excluding abortion providers from Medicaid, AL.com reports.
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