Kansas Governor Sam Brownback wants his state to become the next to yank taxpayer funding from the Planned Parenthood abortion business. He says the money should be diverted to places that provide legitimate health care for women.
The current budget the Kansas legislature is considering would redirect about $300,000 in federal family planning funds Kansas receives that are normally directed to the abortion giant and send them to state and local health clinics that provide health care without doing abortions.
“Gov. Brownback, along with the overwhelming majority of Kansans, opposes taxpayer subsidy of abortions,” Brownback spokeswoman Sherriene Jones-Sontag told the Kansas City Star.
Naturally, Planned Parenthood is not happy with the potential decision and Peter Brownlie, president of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri told the newspaper the abortion business would fight the prospect of losing funding that helps it run nine centers in the state, at least one of which does late-term abortions. Although the money can’t technically pay directly for the abortions, Planned Parenthood, thanks to increased governmental funding over the years, has become the largest abortion business in the nation — doing more than one-quarter of the 1.2 million abortions done annually in the United States.
“The majority of people believe federal funding should be available for family planning and that Planned Parenthood should be a recipient,” he claimed and he called the idea “bad policy, bad health care and bad politics.”
However, a new poll conducted by the Polling Company and WomanTrend earlier this month reveals a majority of Americans, 54 percent, oppose giving tax dollars for family planning services to organizations that perform abortions. The poll also shows the intensity of this position, with 43 percent “strongly” oppose any federal funds going to abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood, while just 20 percent “strongly” support federal funds going to abortion businesses.
Legislators return to Topeka this week and Rep. Barbara Bollier, a Mission Hills Republican, told the Star she believes pro-life lawmakers will be successful in directing the Planned Parenthood funds to non-abortion health centers.
Kathy Ostrowski, state legislative director of Kansans for Life, says she hopes that will happen.
“We oppose the taking of innocent human life,” she said. “The use of mandated taxes to support it is especially indefensible when more families than ever before are seeking to adopt children.”
Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, is also on board with the idea.
“With a pro-life leader at the helm, Kansas is boldly going where no state has gone before. Under a new budget proposal, local legislators are trying redirect the $300,000 in federal funds for Planned Parenthood and farm it out to local health clinics that haven’t been implicated in criminal cover-ups,” he said. “If Congress won’t pull the multi-million dollar rug out from under the abortion giant, Governors like Sam Brownback will. If Brownback’s budget is as popular with legislators as it is with voters, July 1 would be the date that Kansas declares its independence from Planned Parenthood.”
Since day one, the former Senator-turned-Governor has made no secret of his goal to distinguish Kansas as the nation’s leading voice for the unborn.
“Kansas, in the heart of America,” he said, “is a culture of life state — and we’re not going back.”
ACTION: Tell your legislators you support de-funding Planned Parenthood by going here.
