Shelby County, Tennessee is being pressured by the Tennessee Department of Health to approve a $115,000 grant to Planned Parenthood, the Memphis Daily News reports.
“The commission delayed a vote on a $115,000 grant last year after commissioner David Reaves was incorrectly listed as a sponsor of the measure. Reaves is opposed to the funding,” according to the report.
The funds would be allocated toward condom distribution to stem the tide of HIV cases in the county, according to the report.
Many taxpayers would rather their tax dollars not support businesses that advocate for and provide abortions. Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest abortion provider, performing about 320,000 abortions a year, or about one third of all abortions in the U.S.
Brian Harris, president of Tennessee Right to Life, told Fox News: “While we are disappointed that any 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.”
Melissa Morrison, Tennessee Health Department HIV Director, in a letter said the county is violating its grant contract by not giving the money to Planned Parenthood.
“Not only does this failure to complete the execution of a contract violate your contractual obligations to TDH (Tennessee Department of Health), we have reason to believe it may be motivated by matters unrelated to the ability of the proposed subgrantee to meet its obligations under the subgrant,” Morrison continued.
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Here’s more from WMC Action News 5:
High tension came Wednesday as Shelby County Commissioners refused to add the Planned Parenthood contract to the agenda, getting four no votes, enough to keep it off the agenda for Wednesday’s committee meeting. …
Perhaps fanning the flames, a social media post from commissioner Terry Roland, saying he cares about the spread of STDs but calling Planned Parenthood “baby killers.”
“I’m a counter puncher, OK? They hit me first,” Roland said.
Roland said county administration shouldn’t have sent Planned Parenthood a contract without getting commission approval first.
“All of this went on before we even had a chance to vote on it,” said Roland.
Shelby County reports the highest number of both new HIV cases and chlamydia cases in the state of Tennessee, WMC ActionNews5 reported.
Ashley Coffield, president of Planned Parenthood of the Greater Memphis Region, said that the abortion agency has contracted for condoms since 2013. She said if the grant is not approved by Monday, Planned Parenthood will launch a federal lawsuit.
“It is politicians putting politics before our community’s health,” Coffield told WMC ActionNews5.
“I think the language that’s been used is inflammatory. I think it’s dangerous,” Coffield continued. “I think it actually endangers our employees and puts our organization at risk, and I wish our commissioners would focus more on community health and less on abortion.”
This isn’t the first time that Planned Parenthood of the Greater Memphis Region has received grants for condom distribution, as federal funding totaling $795,000 has previously been allocated to the agency’s HIV prevention programs, including counseling and education programs in Spanish. The agency has also received $395,000 in Title X Family Planning Services Program funding, Fox News reported.
The 2013-2014 annual report by Planned Parenthood says 42 percent of its services are testing and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, and 3 percent are abortions.
However, this 3-percent myth surrounding abortion has been debunked by the Washington Post and many others.
“The 3 percent figure that Planned Parenthood uses is misleading, comparing abortion services to every other service that it provides,” according to the newspaper.
“The organization treats each service — pregnancy test, STD test, abortion, birth control — equally. Yet there are obvious difference between a surgical (or even medical) abortion, and offering a urine (or even blood) pregnancy test. These services are not all comparable in how much they cost or how extensive the service or procedure is.”
The Washington Post further states: “Advocates and opponents of abortion rights have calculated somewhere between 15 percent and 37 percent of the organization’s annual non-government health services revenue comes from abortion services. Depending on which price you use, you can even get up to 55 percent.”
Harris, of Tennessee Right to Life, previously told LifeNews the abortion business received a grant that should have gone to a legitimate medical provider that can better treat potential patients and be free of the ethical concerns of having Tennesseans fund the nation’s biggest abortion business with its tax dollars.
