The president of Planned Parenthood says Ohio’s new law defunding her abortion business will have “devastating consequences” because the measure is “eliminating care for expectant mothers and newborns.”
“This legislation will have devastating consequences for women across Ohio,” Cecile Richards said, reports CNN. “John Kasich is proudly eliminating care for expectant mothers and newborns; he is leaving thousands without vital STD and HIV testing, slashing a program to fight domestic violence, and cutting access to essential, basic health care.”
On Sunday, the Ohio governor and 2016 GOP candidate signed a bill that redirects $1.3 million in taxpayer funds from Planned Parenthood of Ohio to other health facilities. The legislation also prohibits the state from entering into a contract for health services with any entity that performs or promotes non-therapeutic abortions and earmarks $250,000 in federal Medicaid funds exclusively for community health centers.
Joe Andrews, a spokesman for Kasich’s gubernatorial office, said in a statement:
The Ohio Department of Health [ODH] has at least 150 other sub-grantees and contractors for the affected grants and projects addressing such issues as new born babies, infant mortality, expectant mothers, violence against women, and minority HIV/AIDS. ODH will reallocate funding from ineligible providers under the new law to other currently eligible providers, ranging from local health departments and community organizations to hospitals and universities. These organizations will be required to submit proposals in order to receive funding.
Still, Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio CEO Stephanie Kight said the cuts in funding would not force the closure of clinics or stop abortions since the organization will find funding elsewhere to replace the funds eliminated by the new law.
Ohio is the tenth state to defund Planned Parenthood following the release of undercover videos that exposed the abortion business’ apparent practices of harvesting the body part of aborted babies for sale on the open market and altering the position of babies during abortion in order to harvest the most intact organs.
Its latest annual report for 2014-2015 shows Planned Parenthood services, private donations, and the total number of patients has declined. “Services” – which range from giving out a condom to aborting a baby – dropped 11 percent last year, from 10.5 million to 9.5 million, and the number of patients served was 2.5 million – the lowest number since 1998.
The number of abortions performed by Planned Parenthood declined last year as well – from 327,653 to 323,999 – the lowest number since 2007. In contrast, the number of “prenatal services” the organization reports this past year is only 17,419 – down from 18,684 last year.
Similarly, Planned Parenthood reports its private donations dropped by $38.3 million this past year.
Despite this state of affairs, the abortion giant’s overall revenue has grown. As Breitbart News reported in December, Planned Parenthood received $528.4 million from taxpayers in the prior year, but then was given a 4.8 percent raise to $553.7 million in the fiscal year just concluded – even though a number of states moved to eliminate Planned Parenthood funding in the wake of the baby-parts scandal that held the nation’s attention over the summer.
“It is absolutely incredible that Planned Parenthood continues to get more and more taxpayer dollars whiles its customer base and services provided plummets,” said Jim Sedlak who runs American Life League’s Stop Planned Parenthood program. “An 11 percent decrease in services and a record-low number of clients are significant, yet Congress recently passed a budget for 2016 keeping Planned Parenthood fully funded. It is time this stopped.”
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