By L.A. Williams, Correspondent
Christian Action League
RALEIGH — Some $343,000 that would have gone to the state chapter of the nation’s largest abortion provider will now be redirected to county health departments thanks to the N.C. General Assembly’s override of Gov. Beverly Perdue’s veto of the new budget bill.
The override marked the second time the Legislature had pushed through a plan to defund Planned Parenthood. The first effort failed a court challenge when a judge ruled that lawmakers could not single out a specific agency that provides services to the state. This time, the bill doesn’t do so. Instead it changes some rules for the Department of Health and Human Services making it illegal for HHS to contract with “private providers” of family planning services. As it stands, Planned Parenthood is the only provider of such services with which the department contracts.
Barbara Holt, president of N.C. Right to Life, has said there is simply no reason for the state to subsidize the abortion industry.
“The majority of Americans do not want their tax dollars going to organizations that kill unborn children. … And Planned Parenthood is the largest single provider of abortions in the country. They do over 330,000 abortions every year,” she told the Christian Broadcasting Network.
The Susan B. Anthony List, a national pro-life organization, also praised state lawmakers for overriding the veto.
“Planned Parenthood is an abortion-centered, profit-driven business, not the caring health provider for women and girls they purport to be. They neither need nor deserve taxpayer dollars,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the List, told LifeNews.com. “This budget adjustment does not cut a dime of family planning funding. It does protect the consciences of pro-life taxpayers by sending funds to county health departments which do not perform abortions.”
North Carolina lawmakers’ attempts to defund Planned Parenthood are part of a larger effort by Republican legislators across the nation.
Steve Aden, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund (name recently changed to Alliance Defending Freedom), pointed to an investigation that showed Planned Parenthood’s willingness to work with sex traffickers to provide abortions to underage girls and said it was high time the organization’s activities came to light.
He told CBN that states should recognize that “this is not only a waste of taxpayer dollars, but it is immoral and it’s got to stop.”