Tennessee Votes Next Week on Cutting Funds to Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
June 4, 2009
Nashville, TN (LifeNews.com) — The Tennessee legislature is expected to vote next week on state budgets bills with an amendment that would cut funding to the Planned Parenthood abortion business. As the legislature reaches its time wall, Planned Parenthood is still in line to receive more than $1.1 million tax dollars.
Rep. Joey Hensley, and Sen. Jack Johnson, both Republicans, are sponsoring their respective budget bills, House Bill 1756 and Senate Bill 470, that are drawing support from Tennessee Right to Life.
The bills are scheduled for committee hearings in the House Budget Subcommittee on Monday and Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday.
Right to Life spokesman Ed Albin told LifeNews.com the current language in the bills "provide the opportunity for our tax dollars to fund women’s health programs through local public health departments rather than controversial organizations such as Planned Parenthood which perform and promote abortion."
Albin said the amendment is needed following the recent release of undercover videotape showing a Planned Parenthood abortion counselor in Memphis directing a "14 year old" to lie to a judge regarding the age of her "31 year old" boyfriend.
"The shocking scandal highlights Planned Parenthood’s aggressive marketing of abortion and their willingness to violate laws requiring the immediate reporting of suspected sexual abuse of children to public officials," he says.
The footage shows a Planned Parenthood staffer telling activist Lila Rose to lie about her potential sexual abuse so she could get an abortion.
Rose sent the raw footage from the Memphis undercover investigation to District Attorney Bill Gibbons for review.
According to the District Attorney Office spokeswoman Jennifer Donnals, "Gen. Gibbons has assigned one of the prosecutors in our Grand Jury section to review the video to determine if the matter warrants any further investigation."
Rose went to the Planned Parenthood’s Memphis Health Center undercover and told a counselor that a supposed boyfriend twice her age impregnated her and that she wanted an abortion without her parents knowing.
Tennessee Code 37-1-605 requires health professionals to report suspected cases of sexual abuse of minors to law enforcement immediately.
Instead of notifying officials about the apparent sexual abuse, a Planned Parenthood counselor tells Rose on camera that she doesn’t want to continue the line of conversation about the sexual abuse.
"Look, if we keep on this conversation, I’m gonna have to talk to my manager and yeah, [your boyfriend]’s gonna get in trouble," the staffer says. "And please don’t say that I told you this."
When Rose tells the counselor she thinks her boyfriend will get in trouble if her parents find out, the counselor advises Rose to lie about the man’s age when speaking to a judge in order to obtain a bypass of Tennessee’s parental consent law for abortion.
"Don’t mention it. Just say you have a boyfriend 17 years old…whatever," the staffer says.
ACTION: Go to this web site to ask your members of the Tennessee legislature to vote for the budgets and cutting Planned Parenthood funds.
Related web sites:
Tennessee Right to Life – https://www.tnrtl.org
New Video – https://liveaction.org/memphis
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