Connecticut Has a Fiscal Crisis But Its Governor Wants to Force Residents to Fund Planned Parenthood

State   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Feb 6, 2020   |   6:50PM   |   Hartford, Connecticut

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s priorities are all mixed up.

Though his state has been suffering financially for years, the pro-abortion Democrat leader is pushing for additional tax dollars for Planned Parenthood, a billion-dollar abortion chain.

NBC Connecticut News reports Lamont released his proposed budget this week as he gave his annual State of the State address.

The $22.3 billion budget plan includes $1.5 million for Planned Parenthood, according to the Hartford Courant. Lamont wants the state taxpayer funding to counteract President Donald Trump’s new Title X rule, which defunded Planned Parenthood of about $60 million nationally.

Locally, the Southern New England branch of Planned Parenthood gave up $2.1 million in Title X funds, according to NBC. About 42,000 Connecticut residents receive Title X services, including birth control and cancer screenings, each year, the abortion chain told the news outlet.

But Planned Parenthood does not need the money. Its annual reports show shrinking patient numbers and very limited medical services, coupled with increases in taxpayer funding and, last year, a record $1.6 billion in revenue.

What’s more, the abortion chain could have continued to receive Title X funds if it had given up doing abortions or completely separated its abortion business from its actual health services. But it refused – choosing to prioritize the killing of unborn babies over providing actual health care to low income patients.

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And now Lamont wants to reward the abortion chain with more tax dollars.

“No more badmouthing the state of Connecticut,” Lamont said during his State of the State address Wednesday. “This is an amazing state. The rest of our country is looking at Connecticut in a new light, and so should you. Optimism is contagious. I don’t have rose-colored glasses on. I know we have a way to go, but we are making significant progress on your behalf every day.”

However, the Courant noted that Connecticut has been struggling for decades with “stagnant job growth and subsequent budget problems.”

Connecticut Mirror also described the state financial troubles this week: “Connecticut remains burdened by one of the nation’s worst unfunded pension liabilities and its economic growth has lagged nearly every other state” as well as “decades of anemic job and wage growth and, more recently, population loss.”

After Lamont released his proposed budget, Planned Parenthood quickly praised him for making them a priority.

“We are gratified to see the demonstrated commitment from Gov. Lamont and our elected leaders to support funding for continued access to preventive reproductive health care for the people of Connecticut who already struggle to get the care they need,” a spokesperson told NBC.

Planned Parenthood is a $1.6 billion dollar “nonprofit” that did more than 345,000 abortions last year, and it wants the unrestricted, unregulated abortion landscape of Roe v. Wade to stay.