Ohio’s efforts to prevent tax dollars from funding the abortion industry moved forward in court Thursday.
The full 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to hear the case after state Attorney General Mike DeWine appealed a ruling blocking the law, the AP reports.
In 2016, Ohio legislators passed a law to prohibit abortion groups from receiving tax dollars. However, Planned Parenthood sued, and a federal judge blocked the law later that year, ruling it unconstitutional.
Then, in April, a three-member panel of the 6th Circuit upheld the ruling, according to Cleveland.com. On Thursday, however, the full 16-member court agreed to re-consider the law.
“The decision to further review this law is a huge win for protecting Ohioans’ pro-life conscience rights,” said Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life. “Ohio’s pro-life taxpayers should not be forced to fund an organization that makes a profit off of the pain of women and their unborn babies.”
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Planned Parenthood, which destroys about 320,000 unborn babies in abortions every year, receives about $1 million taxpayer dollars through Ohio annually, according to the local news. The state Planned Parenthood acknowledged that the tax funds comprise 5-7 percent of its annual budget.
If the law is upheld, those funds would be redirected to community health clinics that provide comprehensive health care to women and families, but not abortions.
“No corporation, and especially not Planned Parenthood, has a right to Ohioan’s hard-earned tax dollars. We are thankful for Attorney General DeWine who has consistently enforced and defended our pro-life laws,” Gonidakis said.
Ohio was one of several states that passed laws defunding the abortion giant after undercover videos caught it allegedly selling aborted babies’ body parts for a profit.
That same year, Ohio Attorney General DeWine revealed that state Planned Parenthood locations were contracting with companies that dump fetal remains in landfills.
A strong majority of Ohio residents want Planned Parenthood to be de-funded and the money redirected to community health centers, according to a poll at the time.
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.
