Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards now finds herself arguing without a hint of irony that “devastating consequences” will be inflicted upon newborns without government funds going into its coffers.
The nation’s largest abortion provider said Monday that a pro-life bill signed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich will have dire effects on mothers and their children. The new law will prohibit over $1 million of state funds from going to any group that performs or advocates for abortion.
“This legislation will have devastating consequences for women across Ohio,” Richards said in a statement, CNN reported Monday. “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.”
The Republican presidential hopeful’s spokesperson, Joe Andrews, said Richards’ claims are a non-issue because funding will be provided to existing organizations that can fulfill those needs.
“The Ohio Department of Health has at least 150 other sub-grantees and contractors for the affected grants and projects addressing such issues as newborn babies, infant mortality, expectant mothers, violence against women, and minority HIV/AIDS,” Andrews said, the network reported. “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.”
Planned Parenthood’s last annual report showed 92 percent of pregnant women who go to the group do so for abortions, Life Site News reported Monday.
A four-month investigation by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine also put Ohio Planned Parenthood in the national spotlight last December. Officials concluded the group was not in compliance with “humane” disposal methods required by law.
“All three Ohio Planned Parenthood affiliates have sent fetal remains to companies which disposed of the fetuses in landfills,” DeWine said in a statement released Dec. 11, 2015, WND reported. The organization was said to have “steam-cooked” fetal remains before sending them to the landfills.
Ohio Planned Parenthood President Stephanie Kight claimed DeWine, a Republican, was playing politics.
“The state is now claiming that Planned Parenthood is in violation of this regulation, despite the fact that for decades, Planned Parenthood has followed these regulations and has never been cited by the state for violation,” Kight said Dec. 13, 2015, Reuters reported.
DeWine’s office launched its investigation in July after undercover videos by the Center for Medical Progress showed Planned Parenthood’s representatives discussing prices for fetal tissue. No Planned Parenthood affiliates in Ohio were selling tissue.
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