Wisconsin Bill Targets Planned Parenthood Taxpayer Funding
by Maria Gallagher
LifeNews.com Staff Writer
December 22, 2003
Madison, WI (LifeNews.com) — The state of Wisconsin could take action which would affect the way that Planned Parenthood, the nation largest abortion business, uses tax money.
Wisconsin State Representative Glenn Grothman and State Senator Joe Leibham have introduced legislation which would place restrictions on the $38 million in federal planning money coming into the state. Under AB 634 and SB 308, minors could not be serviced with the new money.
Wisconsin Right to Life is supporting the measures.
"Our interest in this issue revolves around the fact that the new pot of $38 million family planning dollars will be used by Planned Parenthood to further increase their promotion of abortion which will result in more profits for Planned Parenthood," said Susan Armacost, Wisconsin Right to Life’s Legislative Director.
Armacost notes that Planned Parenthood uses family planning clinics to refer pregnant women to their profit-oriented abortion centers. With the new pool of federal money, Planned Parenthood will have access to an even greater number of women who will go to their family planning clinics.
"As a result," Armacost says, "Planned Parenthood will not only be receiving more federal money, they will also generate income from the increased number of abortions that will come from increased traffic at the family planning facilities."
Armacost told state legislators: "This, of course, is a blatant conflict of interest. It has been occurring for years with the state and federal funds Planned Parenthood currently receives apart from the $38 million dollar pot of new family planning dollars. As state lawmakers, you should find this most troubling."
Given Planned Parenthood’s relentless promotion of abortion, Armacost says that Wisconsin Right to Life would like to stop the flow of tax dollars to Planned Parenthood facilities.
"We want to make it clear that Wisconsin Right to Life opposes any amount of state and federal family planning dollars going to Planned Parenthood because many of those dollars are used to promote abortion and are used to perpetuate the blatant conflict of interest that currently exists, Armacost said. "But sadly, there is not the political will in the state legislature to completely stop this misuse of tax dollars."
Armacost considers the Grothman/Leibham legislation "a way to make an intolerable situation a little less intolerable." She said the measures would ensure that Planned Parenthood does not prey on teenagers with the additional funds the organization would be receiving from the federal government.
Pro-life leaders around the nation note that Planned Parenthood is all too willing to provide abortion referrals to teenagers without their parents knowledge.
One recent case gained national attention, when a California Planned Parenthood gave Holly Patterson, an 18-year-old girl, the abortion drug RU-486. Patterson died from complications resulting from her use of the chemical abortion. Her parents had not known she was given RU-486 by Planned Parenthood.
While Wisconsin law does require parental consent prior to a minor’s abortion, Armacost said Planned Parenthood can use loopholes to circumvent the law, endangering the girl’s health and safety in the process.
Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood is lobbying hard to try to obtain the family planning money without any restrictions.
But pro-life leaders are hoping Planned Parenthood’s lobbying campaign will fall flat. While they concede that the Grothman/Leibham legislation addresses only a small part of a much larger problem, they say that, given present political realities, it is the best they can hope for at this time.
Related web sites:
Wisconsin Right to Life – https://www.wrtl.org
