Michigan House lawmakers passed a budget bill Wednesday to stop tax dollars from funding groups that abort unborn babies.
The Michigan Advance reports the legislation, which involves contracts and funding through the state health department, passed in a 56-50 vote with one Democrat, state Rep. Karen Whitsett, D-Detroit, joining Republicans in support of the bill. The legislation now returns to the state Senate for final approval.
Sponsored by state Sen. Rick Outman, R-Six Lakes, Senate Bill 828 prohibits the state health department from funding or contracting with groups that do elective abortions and abortion referrals. It also prohibits funding for human cloning and other scientific research that involves destroying or discarding human embryos.
The bill appears likely to pass the state legislature, but Gov. Gretchen Whitmer may veto it. Whitmer is a pro-abortion Democrat who recently filed a lawsuit challenging a state abortion ban that would go into effect if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.
Michigan does not use tax dollars to pay for the killing of unborn babies in abortions directly; however, tax dollars still flow to Planned Parenthood and other abortion groups through various programs.
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As Right to Life of Michigan explains on its website: “Federal contract rules allow taxpayer funds to pay staff salaries, supplies, and facility costs on a ‘pro-rated’ basis. It is merely an accounting gimmick; tax dollars literally pay the rent and energy costs to keep abortion clinics running and funds staff that help perform abortions. Planned Parenthood claims abortion is inseparable from their mission, and with half of their budget coming from taxpayers, it’s safe to say our tax dollars are inseparable from their abortion mission.”
Planned Parenthood is a billion-dollar abortion chain that aborts more unborn babies than any other group in the U.S. Its latest annual report, which is publicly available online, shows more than 354,000 abortions, about 40 percent of all abortions in the U.S. It also receives hundreds of millions of tax dollars every year through state and federal government programs.
Former CEO Leana Wen said Planned Parenthood’s “core mission” is abortion, and its own annual reports show that the few actual health services that it does provide, such as birth control, cancer screenings and sterilizations, have been dropping steadily in recent years, while its abortion numbers have been increasing.
Michigan is one of a number of states have taken action to kick abortion groups out of their taxpayer-funded programs. New Hampshire and Missouri also passed measures to defund abortion groups this year, and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, recently introduced a federal bill to stop abortion groups from receiving Title X family planning funding.
However, only a few states have succeeded in stopping tax dollars from funding abortion groups. Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion groups frequently sue to block these actions, and judges often rule in their favor. In 2021, Texas succeeded in defunding Planned Parenthood and other abortion groups from its taxpayer-funded programs after a lengthy legal battle.
Meanwhile, at the federal level, Democrat leaders are trying to end the Hyde Amendment and force taxpayers nation-wide to directly fund abortions through Medicaid.
Polls consistently show strong public support for the Hyde Amendment. A 2021 Marist poll found 58 percent of Americans oppose using tax dollars to fund abortions in the U.S. and 77 percent oppose using tax dollars to fund abortions in other countries. A 2016 Harvard/Politico poll also found strong public opposition to taxpayer funding for abortions.
