In August, Utah became the fifth state to de-fund Planned Parenthood in the wake of videos exposing their organ harvesting business. Now KUTV reports that the state health department has found approximately $225,000 to take from the abortion giant’s budget. Tom Hudachko of the Utah Department of Health said, “We are going to be eliminating all of those contracts or allowing some of them to expire.” He added, “We can redistribute the money to other partners.”
However, Utah House democratic leader Brian King said the Planned Parenthood money helps Utahns. He explained that the abortion company works to reduce unintended pregnancy, abortion rates and the rates of sexually transmitted diseased. Although it is true that Planned Parenthood offers other “services” besides abortion, they bring in significant income from abortion and the footage released by The Center for Medical Progress confirms that their motives are, at the very least, questionable.
As LifeNews previously reported, a poll conducted by Jones and Associates found that 56% of Utahns view Planned Parenthood in a negative light, while only 37% view them favorably. The Salt Lake City Tribune reports the poll took place from August 7-9th and surveyed 500 adults in the state. Additionally, the survey found that most do not support using fetal “tissue” for research.
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The managing editor for UtahPolicy.com, Bryan Schott, said the new figures show that most Utahns would agree with the governor’s decision to cut off federal funding to Planned Parenthood. He said, “If I had to take a guess. I would say it probably wouldn’t move the needle too much.”
As expected, Utah Democrats and Republicans who participated in the Planned Parenthood poll shared the same views as their party. 79 percent of Republicans disapproved of Planned Parenthood, while only 9 percent of Democrats said the same. Also, 73 percent of Republicans said they didn’t support fetal research and only 20% said they did.
Unfortunately, 79 percent of Democrats in the state said they still supported Planned Parenthood despite the new videos, and 73 percent said they support fetal-tissue research. However, 50 percent of unaffiliated voters said they viewed Planned Parenthood unfavorably, while 43 percent said the opposite.
On August 19, Utah Senator, Mia Love, joined Gov. Herbert and a dozen other pro-life lawmakers at a rally calling on federal de-funding of Planned Parenthood. At the event, Gov. Herbert said, “We are not going to stop that funding. It just won’t be made available through Planned Parenthood.” He added, “The thing I find most appalling is the casualness, the callousness … the lack of respect, the lack of sensitivity to the unborn,” referring to the Planned Parenthood footage.
