The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded Planned Parenthood of New Hampshire $1 million after the state legislature voted to cut off the stream of taxpayer money to the largest operator in the nation's abortion industry.
It's just one of a number of states where local managers and officials have decided against providing tax money to Planned Parenthood, only to see their work overturned through what one critic calls government by fiat.
Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser says the New Hampshire dispute is just another example of the Obama administration's abuse of states' rights.
And this happened in a state that prides itself on its love for the 10th Amendment.
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"A place like New Hampshire is central to states' rights. It's part of their heritage and history," Dannenfelser said. "Obama and Planned Parenthood know that the only place they can exert their will when it comes to funding is to overstep in the way they just have in New Hampshire."
She said the executive order through the Department of Health and Human Services is an example of what she calls executive fiat.
"In Indiana, North Carolina, and now in New Hampshire, the states themselves decided what organizations they want operating in their own states," Dannenfelser said.
"Obama and Planned Parenthood together have said, uh-uh, no way. You step aside will of the people. We are going to move in there because we know better than you do about how you ought to run your own state," Dannenfelser said.
Listen to an interview with Dannenfelser:
The American Life League's Rita Diller says the action by the administration violates New Hampshire's sovereignty.
"It is an outrage to learn that the Obama administration has awarded a contract worth more than $1 million directly to Planned Parenthood of Northern New England – in direct circumvention of the wishes of the executive council of the state of New Hampshire," Diller said.
"The direct administration of family planning funds by the federal government is a dramatic departure from the way these funds are normally administered," she added.
Diller said the administration's decision also violates the terms of how other aid money is distributed and is an attack on a state's right to determine where its aid money is spent.
"Title X and other entitlement programs are administered by the states, which receive money from the federal government and add state monies to it. The state then awards the money to the grantees of its choice," Diller said.
"The willingness of the Department of Health and Human Services to high-handedly usurp the state's sovereignty is proof positive that state's rights mean nothing to this agency," she said.
Several other states also have taken steps to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood, including Indiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Wisconsin and Tennessee.
Indiana passed a law cutting off the funding, but the ACLU represented Planned Parenthood in a federal suit saying that Planned Parenthood has a constitutional right to perform abortions.
A federal judge issued a restraining order preventing Indiana's law from taking effect. The state has appealed the ruling.
Dannelfelser said that Planned Parenthood argued that its abortionists had a right to taxpayer funding because of the abortion group's mentality.
"Planned Parenthood has always had an entitlement approach to public policy, as if they're the only folks who can take care of women, even though they're the largest abortion provider in the nation," Dannenfelser said.
"But if states awaken to the reality of how they operate, they have defunded them. So … Planned Parenthood's stronghold is either through the courts or through HHS and ultimately through President Obama," she said.
"I'll make this prediction. It's not ever going to be the will of the people to keep Planned Parenthood alive in any of these states. It will only be through the judiciary or through the executive branch, and that we should not be standing for," Dannenfelser added.
The Kansas state budget has a provision that prevents federal family planning money from going to Planned Parenthood. The provision was fully supported by Gov. Sam Brownback.
North Carolina became the third state in the nation to officially strip Planned Parenthood's funding from its state budget, when the legislature overrode a gubernatorial veto.
The Texas Legislature voted in June to compel the state to ask the Obama administration to fund the Texas Medicaid program with a block grant. The bill's purpose was to ensure that Planned Parenthood was left out of the funding process in Texas.
Also in June, Wisconsin lawmakers voted to strip $1 million from Planned Parenthood to the cheers of pro-life groups.
In Oklahoma, a bill is still working its way through the legislature to take away Planned Parenthood's family planning money.
Local governments in Tennessee are voting to give their "family planning" money to other service agencies. Dannenfelser said making Planned Parenthood march county-by-county may be the best approach.
"Most states are doing exactly that (as Tennessee)," Dannenfelser said. "That's one approach."
"But the governors of the states like Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Wisconsin, New Hampshire have said, 'Of course we're not going to allow poor people and women to go without help,'" she said.
"There are other places through Medicaid or Title 10 or other places that will substitute for that care, keeping in mind that the No. 1 object is that they don't want a contract with the No. 1 abortion provider in the nation," Dannenfelser said.
"So yes, the way to go about doing this is to say that an alternative to inappropriate care is appropriate care. When they've done this in Tennessee and Indiana, Wisconsin and all of these states, they've found ... an appropriate number but choices for women to get care in different places," she explained.
Dannefelser said Planned Parenthood has used the argument of equivocation to get money from the federal government. She says the formula has been to equate women's health care with abortion.
"They believe that care for women is inextricably connected to abortion services, but you can't possibly call it care. But that's not what they say," Dannenfelser stated.
"What they say is, '(Unless you have abortion services available) You won't get cervical screening, you won't get breast cancer checkups, you won't get tested for things you need to be tested for. And that's simply not true," she continued.
Diller said Planned Parenthood uses the "family planning" money to overtly promote abortion.
"Taxpayers should not be forced to fund an entity that destroys innocent human life. Money is fungible, and family planning money given to Planned Parenthood helps it get into the community and sell its abortion business," Diller said.
"Abortion is not family planning, yet family planning funds are routinely used to lure women into Planned Parenthood facilities. This is unconscionable and must stop," she said.
Diller said it's evidence that actual health care is available from organizations other than Planned Parenthood, which did not respond to WND's request for comment.