Planned Parenthood Funding Coming Under Attack on Federal As Well As in Many States.

& that is a good thing. Unless you are Cecille Richards & Planned Parenthood & you are watching your cash cow dry up. HR 1, the FY10 Continuing Resolution is currently being debated. It would reinstating the ban on all taxpayer funding for elective abortion in the District of Columbia, reinstate the Mexico City Policy, eliminate funding for UNFPA, eliminate funding Title X, & reducing funding for international population control & family planning funding. (Note: This is just the resolution to finance rest of the current fiscal year.) On Tuesday The House Energy & Commerce approved the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, a measure introduced by U.S. Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) on January 7, 2011. The bill would strip Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of abortions in America, of federal Title X funds. The “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” (HR 3) was the subject of a hearing by the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution last week. Besides what is going on at the Federal level in Congress to defund PP, many states are also taking the inititicve to do what they can.

In Indiana, the House Public Policy Committee voted 7-3 today to send HB 1205, a bill that removes state contracts & grants from abortion businesses to the full state House. In South Carolina the House Judiciary subcommittee approved a bill making it so abortion funding would not be part of the state health insurance exchanges set up under the new Obamacare health care reform law. Yesterday a West Virginia state House committee approved a bill to make it so no health insurance policy, public or private, could cover abortions.

& even here in Iowa, there are things going on in the General Assembly to reduce the tax money PP can get. I checked with a friend of mine in the Iowa House & he shared the following with me: "We have already passed one bill through the House, HF 45 which had some cuts in PP funding.
Specifically what we are trying to roll back is the level of income under which individuals can apply for assistance from the state and pp. Federal law requires us to offer some funding which PP can get, but only requires we offer it to people at 130% of Federal Poverty level or below.
The Democrats took charge and raised that to 300% of the FPL, in effect increasing foot traffic and customers to PP.
That is the most direct action we are taking. Also Reps Matt Windschitl and Betty DeBoef are working through all the budget areas and trying to locate places where PP gets state dollars. WE are going to try and target these, especially in the Human Services budget. Of course we have a Democratic Senate to work through but I am hopeful we can make real progress this year."

As he points out, Federal law requires that PP be eligible for certain funds. As I mentioned earlier, Congress is working to change that. So there are some limits as to what they can & can't do to defund PP. But, as you can see, they are making an effort.

I was NOT surprized to see that when the Dems were in total control that they made it easier for PP to get our tax dollars. & I am happy to see that the House Republicans are working to reverse that. & you can be sure the Dems will try & paint it as an attack on the poor as well. Well then, I guess I am 1 of those poor being attacked as my income is at about the 200% level for 2011*.

So the battle goes on. But PP is not sitting back & accepting the loss of funding as a fait accompli. They are fighting. PP is calling on supporters to contact their reps. & Jill Stanek reports a possible rally in DC this Saturday. (If it does come about, it will be interesting to see how the media handles this in comparision to the lack of coverage of last month's March for Life.)

So we can't sit back & rest, we must do all we can. Again starting with prayer, but also contacting our state & Federal reps to let them know that "We are mad as hell & we're not going to take it any more!" when it comes to funding Planned Parenthood.

*Interesting side note. FPL regulations require a pregnant woman to be counted as 2 people. Interesting isn't it how schizophrenic things when it comes to the unborn. I am sure that the same pro-aborts who call the unborn child a blob of tissue approve of this as it helps the "poor" to be eligible for more help from PP. & after Pp has milked it for all it is worth, then they can talk her into an abortion as well.

This also reminds me of the 3/5ths compromise that ended up in the US Constitution. No, that was NEVER saying a black is only the equivalent of 3/5th of a white person. The South wanted the blacks they normally called property to be counted as persons for population purposes so they could have a larger representation in Congress. But they were to be exempt from the taxation. The North didn't want them counted as people because of the fact it would give the South more power on the backs of people treated as property but to be counted when it came to apportioning taxes. There is no easy way to make it sound like the reasons were purely altruistic as they weren't. But even back then the fact that slaves were people with rights couldn't be ignored.

So here we have a similar situation. God willing we will soon see the same end result, full recognition of the unborn as human beings with the full rights that go with that fact.