Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Virginia Pro-Life Group Working to De-Fund Pro-Abortion Planned Parenthood

From http://lifenews.com/state3744.html

Virginia Pro-Life Group Working to De-Fund Pro-Abortion Planned Parenthood

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 7, 2009

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Richmond, VA (LifeNews.com) -- A Virginia pro-life group says the prospects of de-funding the Planned Parenthood abortion business could be better in 2009 than they have been in years. The Family Forum says it will press efforts to stop forcing taxpayers to subsidize the pro-abortion group's facilities.

In past budget years, Virginia residents ave sent nearly $200,000 to the nation’s largest abortion business -- paying for over 300 elective abortions.

While federal law requires the state to pay for abortions in very rare circumstances such as rape and incest, state officials have gone further to pay for abortions across the board.

"The Commonwealth has decided to go beyond the requirement and fund 'elective' abortions as well – hundreds of them," Family Forum president Virginia Cobb told LifeNews.com Wednesday. "This taxpayer support of elective abortion is unnecessary and must end."

Cobb's group says the numbers are likely just the tip of the iceberg as state officials haven't been forthcoming with information regarding how much taxpayer money is going to Planned Parenthood and how many abortions are funded.

Family Forum has filed multiple Freedom of Information Act requests as have pro-life lawmakers and they've shed little light on the situation.

In 2008 Family Forum and pro-life groups like the Virginia Society for Human Life obtained, for the first time, budget language that passed both the House and Senate that would have de-funded Planned Parenthood only to see it left out of the final budget.

Cobb says the funding has allowed Planned Parenthood to increase its share of the abortions done in the United States. She points out that it does more abortions thanks to $300 million in annual government funding even though abortions are at historic lows under the Bush administration.

"Planned Parenthood is the largest private provider of abortion in the United States, performing more than one quarter of all abortions, or nearly 300,000 in 2006. As the national abortion rate has gradually declined in recent years, Planned Parenthood’s abortion number continues to increase by double digits," she said.

Like other states, Virginia faces a budget crunch and the governor and state lawmakers will have to fund ways to balance the $77 billion budget in a difficult economy.

Cobb says cutting the Planned Parenthood funding is an easy place to start.

"They can start with the unnecessary taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood and elective abortions," she said.

Related web sites:
Family Foundation - http://www.familyfoundation.org
Virginia Legislature - http://legis.state.va.us/
Virginia Society for Human Life - http://www.vshl.org


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