A new poll of Florida voters finds a majority support ending taxpayer funding for the Planned Parenthood abortion business. The poll comes at a time when Florida lawmakers are yanking abortion funding from Obamacare.
The new Viewpoint Florida survey was conducted April 13-14 among 807 Florida registered voters who say they are likely to vote in the 2012 elections and it found 54 percent of Florida residents support de-funding Planned Parenthood while just 38 percent oppose doing so. Another 8 percent are unsure if the abortion giant should continue receiving tens of millions of dollars from the federal government.
“While voters aged 18-34 comprised a fairly small set of our sample, we do see a majority of those respondents opposed to defunding Planned Parenthood,” Viewpoint Florida said in a statement concerning its survey. “However, support for the measure appears to increase as you look up the age brackets, and opposition drops from 54% among 18-34 year old voters to just 33% among voters over the age of 65.”
Men were more supportive of removing funding for the abortion business — supporting it at a 2-1 clip — while women were evenly divided 45-43 percent in support.
“Republicans were not surprisingly much more supportive of eliminating funding for Planned Parenthood, but 35% of Democrats did support the measure to 55% who opposed it,” the firm noted. “A slim plurality of Independents do oppose ending Planned Parenthood’s federal subsidy by a 48%-46% margin.”
The polling data found support for de-funding Planned Parenthood is highest in the Panhandle and Jacksonville while the Tampa/Gulf Coast region is more divided, with residents there supporting de-funding 50-44 percent.
This week, members of the state House Health and Human Services Committee approved three bills that collectively stop state or federal funds from going towards paying for abortions, to allow women a chance to see an ultrasound of their unborn child, and to prohibit abortions after the point of viability.
Rep. Janet Cruz, a Democrat from Tampa, opposed the bills and read a letter to her colleagues about her daughter’s decision to have an abortion.
During the hearing, Larry Spalding, a male lobbyist for the ACLU, said male members of the committee were not qualified to have opinions about abortion because they are men, to which Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz responded, “While I’ve been accused of not being qualified for many things in my life … I hope I’m qualified enough to be pro-life, even though I am a man.”
Rep. Liz Porter, a Republican sponsoring the ultrasound bill, said it is needed because Planned Parenthood doesn’t give accurate abortion and fetal development information to women.
“The real objective of organizations like Planned Parenthood is not fear of the effect to women, but the fear of the effect of their bottom line,” said Porter. “Clinics are not going to be inclined to share the kind of information that will prevent women from getting an abortion.”
