After the Planned Parenthood abortion company was caught in multiple states selling aborted babies and their body parts, several states have taken steps to de-fund it. Ohio is the next up to the plate with new legislation to de-fund Planned Parenthood, which runs approximately one-third of the abortion centers in the Buckeye State.
Today, legislation to de-fund Planned Parenthood (H.B. 294) was approved by the Ohio Senate on a 22-8 vote. Sponsored by Representatives Margaret Conditt (R-Liberty Township) and Bill Patmon (D-Cleveland), this legislation cuts over $1 million in yearly federal grants to Planned Parenthood, the country’s largest abortion company.
This morning, the Senate Committee on Government Oversight and Reform approved the legislation 9-3 and it received a Senate floor vote later afterwards.
This legislation, which is at the top of Ohio Right to Life’s 2015-2016 legislative agenda, received renewed interest following the release of undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood officials negotiating dollar amounts for aborted babies’ body parts. In December, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine revealed that in Ohio, Planned Parenthood locations are contracting with companies that dump fetal remains in landfills.
SIGN THE PETITION! Congress Must De-Fund Planned Parenthood Immediately
“Ohio Right to Life is on the cusp of de-funding Planned Parenthood thanks to the hard work and compassion of our pro-life leaders,” said Stephanie Ranade Krider, executive director of Ohio Right to Life. “When the country’s largest abortion provider is caught callously negotiating over the hearts, livers, and heads of aborted children, Ohio has to stand up against doing business with that entity.”
In November, the Ohio House passed the legislation, 62-30. House Bill 294 now heads back to the Ohio House for concurrence, and then on to the desk of Governor John Kasich, who has signed 16 Ohio Right to Life initiatives over the last five years.
“With an infant mortality crisis like Ohio’s, our State has to be very deliberate in ensuring that funds combating that crisis go to programs that respect the whole continuum of life,” said Krider. “Time and again, Planned Parenthood has demonstrated that it cannot be trusted with bringing every pre-born child to term. Ohio Right to Life thanks the leadership of Senate President Keith Faber and Chairman Bill Coley for passing this legislation with careful thought and consideration, and the utmost compassion for mothers and their babies.”
Casey Mattox, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, testified that SB 214 is both constitutional and consistent with applicable federal law. Julie Moore, director of operations for Pregnancy Decision Health Centers in Columbus, testified as a representative of Ohio‘s vast network of pregnancy help centers that assist women facing unplanned pregnancies. Dr. Kathleen Lutter testified as an OB-GYN physician who has practiced medicine for 31 years.
“There is no reason that the State of Ohio should be in business with the so-called ‘Walmart’ of abortion,” said Krider. “When an organization like Planned Parenthood ranks as one of the world’s 50 most lucrative non-profits, the State should seriously reconsider how it is allocating taxpayer dollars. We are grateful for the prudence and compassion of our elected officials in continually leading our state towards a more life-affirming culture.”
A strong majority of Ohio residents want Planned Parenthood to be de-funded and the money redirected to community health centers, according to a new poll.
“Taxpayers in Ohio should not be forced to fund a billion-dollar corporation that was caught on camera negotiating the sale of baby body parts,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “Recently released undercover videos and reports on fraud and the cover up of sexual abuse in Ohio exposed the horrific truth about Planned Parenthood that every American should know.”
Pollsters found 64 percent of Ohioans believe that Congress should end taxpayer funding to Planned Parenthood, which received more than $528 million in taxpayer funding in 2014.
Even more Ohioans (68 percent) say taxpayers should not subsidize a group liked Planned Parenthood, and the government should redirect funding to the thousands of health clinics across the country that provide comprehensive health care to women and their families.
SIGN THE PETITION! Congress Must Investigate Planned Parenthood for Selling Aborted Baby Parts
The expose’ videos catching Planned Parenthood officials selling the body parts of aborted babies have shocked the nation. Here is a list of all eleven:
- In the first video: Dr. Deborah Nucatola of Planned Parenthood commented on baby-crushing: “We’ve been very good at getting heart, lung, liver, because we know that, so I’m not gonna crush that part, I’m gonna basically crush below, I’m gonna crush above, and I’m gonna see if I can get it all intact.”
- In the second video: Planned Parenthood’s Dr. Mary Gatter joked, “I want a Lamborghini” as she negotiated the best price for baby parts.
- In the third video: Holly O’Donnell, a former Stem Express employee who worked inside a Planned Parenthood clinic, detailed first-hand the unspeakable atrocities and how she fainted in horror over handling baby legs.
- In the fourth video: Planned Parenthood’s Dr. Savita Ginde stated, “We don’t want to do just a flat-fee (per baby) of like, $200. A per-item thing works a little better, just because we can see how much we can get out of it.” She also laughed while looking at a plate of fetal kidneys that were “good to go.”
- In the fifth video: Melissa Farrell of Planned Parenthood-Gulf Coast in Houston boasted of Planned Parenthood’s skill in obtaining “intact fetal cadavers” and how her “research” department “contributes so much to the bottom line of our organization here, you know we’re one of the largest affiliates, our Research Department is the largest in the United States.”
- In the sixth video: Holly O’Donnell described technicians taking fetal parts without patient consent: “There were times when they would just take what they wanted. And these mothers don’t know. And there’s no way they would know.”
- In the seventh and perhaps most disturbing video: Holly O’Donnell described the harvesting, or “procurement,” of organs from a nearly intact late-term fetus aborted at Planned Parenthood Mar Monte’s Alameda clinic in San Jose, CA. “‘You want to see something kind of cool,’” O’Donnell says her supervisor asked her. “And she just taps the heart, and it starts beating. And I’m sitting here and I’m looking at this fetus, and its heart is beating, and I don’t know what to think.”
- In the eighth video: StemExpress CEO Cate Dyer admits Planned Parenthood sells “a lot of” fully intact aborted babies.
- The ninth video: catches a Planned Parenthood medical director discussing how the abortion company sells fully intact aborted babies — including one who “just fell out” of the womb.
- The 10th video: catches the nation’s biggest abortion business selling specific body parts — including the heart, eyes and “gonads” of unborn babies.The video also shows the shocking ways in which Planned Parenthood officials admit that they are breaking federal law by selling aborted baby body parts for profit.
- Unreleased Videos: Unreleased videos from CMP show Deb Vanderhei of Planned Parenthood caught on tape talking about how Planned Parenthood abortion business affiliates may “want to increase revenue [from selling baby parts] but we can’t stop them…” Another video has a woman talking about the “financial incentives” of selling aborted baby body parts.
- The 11th video catches a Texas Planned Parenthood abortionist planning to sell the intact heads of aborted babies for research. Amna Dermish is caught on tape describing an illegal partial-birth abortion procedure to terminate living, late-term unborn babies which she hopes will yield intact fetal heads for brain harvesting.
