Virginia Senate Passes Bill to Defund Planned Parenthood Abortion Company

State   |   Steven Ertelt, Micaiah Bilger   |   Feb 15, 2017   |   2:41PM   |   Richmond, Virginia

Late Tuesday, the Virginia state Senate approved that would defund the abortion business Planned Parenthood. The Senate voted 20-19 along party lines in favor of the measure.

Pro-abortion Gov. Terry McAuliffe vetoed a similar measure in 2016, and is expected to do the same with this bill. “And I will veto it again this year,” McAuliffe also Tweeted last Wednesday when the bill cleared the House.

The bill passed the state House last Tuesday. Virginia House Bill 2264 would cut off federal Title X funding for Planned Parenthood and any other group that does abortions, and redirect the tax dollars to community health clinics that provide more comprehensive care but don’t do abortions.

Virginia Del. Ben Cline, R-Amherst, sponsor of the bill, said the legislation “ensures that hospitals, federally qualified health clinics and rural health clinics are funded prior to abortion centers.”

The bill states the Virginia Department of Health “shall not enter into a contract with, or make a grant to, any entity that performs abortions that are not federally qualified abortions or maintains or operates a facility where non-federally qualified abortions are performed.”

SIGN THE PETITION! Congress Must De-Fund Planned Parenthood Immediately

One pro-life advocate says there are plenty of alternatives to Planned Parenthood for what little non-abortion health care it provides.

Victoria Cobb, president of the Family Foundation of Virginia, said “apologists for abortion centers” incorrectly blamed Cline’s bill for endangering women’s health.

“Virginia has a duty to steward taxpayer money in a way that ensures funds are distributed by priority to the most effective point-of-service health-care providers,” Cobb said. “This legislation simply ensures that hospitals, federally qualified health clinics and rural health clinics are funded over abortion centers.”

She said that more than 140 federally qualified and rural clinics in Virginia offer comprehensive services to women and that many of them are in areas where Planned Parenthood doesn’t have clinics.

Planned Parenthood currently receives about half a billion dollars of taxpayer funding every year, and performs about 320,000 abortions annually. It does about one third of all abortions in the United States.

The new U.S. Congress also is working to defund the abortion group. Legislators plan to redirect the tax dollars to federally-qualified community health clinics that offer more comprehensive care but don’t perform abortions.

Planned Parenthood has been exposed in recent videos as not providing prenatal care, despite claims to the contrary, and only providing ultrasounds in preparation for abortions.

defundplannedparenthood5