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Summer 2012
Articles from Summer 2012 Life Lines:
- HHS Mandate Violates Religious Freedom
- Health Care Law Includes Abortion Surcharge
Articles from Winter 2011 Life Lines:
- Death with Dignity Act
- The Morning After Pill — Is This Sound Science?
Fall 2011
Articles from Fall 2011 Life Lines:
Summer 2011
Articles from Summer 2011 Life Lines:
- Planned Parenthood Funding Battle Continues
- Court Upholds Ohio RU 486 Law
- Assisted Suicide Advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian Dies
- Are Death Panels Part of Health Care
Defund Planned Parenthood
Defunding Planned Parenthood in Ohio
About Federal Funds
The United States has federal grant programs to be used for family planning services and critical preventive health services to clinics who service millions of low income or uninsured individuals. For low- to moderate-income patients, there is a sliding fee scale for access to grant services, which include breast and pelvic exams, Pap smears and other cancer screenings, HIV testing, pregnancy testing and counseling, and affordable birth control. The federal grant funds can be allocated to any clinic that provides family planning services to poor and low-income patients, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that there is at least one of these federally funded clinics in around three quarters of all U.S. counties. However, no federal funds can be given to any clinic or organization to use for abortions, or if the facility uses abortions as a method of birth control.
Most of these federal grant funds are given to the states to distribute. In Ohio, there is a priority list for who receives these funds, and Planned Parenthood is at the top of the list to the detriment of facilities across the state that need these funds so there would be easier access for women to receive care in more locations. Most Planned Parenthood facilities are located in poor, urban areas, and there is not convenient access for women in outlying areas.
What does Ohio propose?
In February, 2013, an amendment was introduced into HB59 (the Ohio budget bill). This amendment proposes to re-prioritize the distribution of public funds received from the federal government that are used for family planning services. It would require these funds be distributed through a tiered system and that each tier must be fully funded before subsequent tiers receive any funds. The top tier consists of eligible public health entities that provide family planning services, including community health clinics and similar health facilities operated by state, county, or local government entities. After this tier is fully funded, the bill permits the funds to be awarded to nonpublic entities in the following order of descending priority:
- Federally qualified health centers;
- Nonpublic entities that provide comprehensive primary and preventive care services in addition to family planning services;
- Nonpublic entities that provide family planning services, but do not provide comprehensive primary and preventive care services.
With this bill, Planned Parenthood moves to the end of the line for receiving public funds through the State of Ohio. The possibility of there being any funding left by the time the state gets to their place in line is so highly unlikely, that this bill essentially defunds Planned Parenthood without saying “we’re defunding Planned Parenthood.” Essentially, the bill prioritizes state family planning funding to entities that best provide comprehensive health care to women and away from entities that perform abortions like Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider. It also allows for much greater access to health care for women since there will be a larger number of facilities in locations throughout the state that can be more easily accessed rather than in primarily urban area.
The bill passed the Senate on June 6, 2013 and was signed into law by Governor Kasich on July 1, 2013.
In February of 2016, Governor John Kasich signed HB294 which requires that the Department of Health ensure that state funds and certain federal funds are not used either to perform or promote elective abortions or to contract or affiliate with any entity that performs or promotes elective abortions. This removed approximately $1.3 million dollars in addition funds that Planned Parenthood received for things like studying infant mortality….a ridiculous thing for them to do because they’ve publicly stated that the answer to infant mortality is to increase abortions. There are still millions received by Planned Parenthood through the state’s contract them for Medicaid. This funding can stop by executive order from the governor, but to date he has not cancelled it. Planned Parenthood says that if they lose their federal funding that women will have no access to comprehensive health care. This is a complete lie. There are over 600 alternative for comprehensive health care for women and families in Ohio (that do NOT perform abortions) a vast number of locations as opposed to Planned Parenthood’s 28 locations in Ohio. If Planned Parenthood was defunded, these well-deserving alternatives would receive the desperately needed funds. UPDATE: U.S. District Court Judge Michael Barrett issued a temporary restraining order to block this law from taking effect. Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio and Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio sued in federal court May 11, arguing the state efforts to defund the organization punished the organization for advocating and participating in a “constitutionally protected right”.
Why is Ohio and many other states proposing bills to defund Planned Parenthood?
As stated previously, no federal funds can be given to any clinic or organization to use for abortions, or if the facility uses abortions as a method of birth control. In May, 2017, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) released it latest Annual Report for 2015-16. Here is some of the information included in the report:
- PPFA performed a total of 328,348 abortions during this time period, and increase of almost 4500 children killed
- They served about 100,000 fewer clients than the previous fiscal year–about a 4% drop
- While abortions increased, adoption referrals, breast exams, prenatal care, cancer prevention and contraceptive services declined.
- PPFA reports that treated 2,073 clients with “miscarriage care”. This is actually referring to the clients that they provided with medication abortions! While the pills they gave to these women to kill their unborn child were given at the facility, the actual death of the child did not occur on the premises. The “miscarriage care” is followup to medication abortions.
- The amount of taxpayer funds they received increased, even though they saw less clients.
- PPFA had an excess of revenue of $77.5 million (in other words, this billion dollar non-profit organizations profited $77.5 million during that time).
- Nearly half of the total PPFA budget comes from tax payer dollars in the form of government funding.
Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest abortion provider. Planned Parenthood nationwide received $554.6 million in federal funding during fiscal year 2015-16. In Ohio, the CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of Ohio stated in testimony before the House Health and Aging committee that the federal money received from the state accounts for only 7-10% of their budget.1
While abortion is legal in the United States, it is not health care, and pregnancy is not a disease that needs to be eradicated. The statistics above, taken directly from Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s annual report, are a clear indication that abortion is a method of birth control. Since federal funds may not be distributed to any organization that uses abortion as a method of birth control, then Planned Parenthood should not qualify for the funds. The funds that are going to Planned Parenthood should be given to more facilities in a wider area to provide greater access to health care for a larger number of clients.
True or False?
Planned Parenthood clinics should not be defunded because through their comprehensive educational programs in prevention, they have reduced the number of abortions.2
FALSE: The rates of government funding received by Planned Parenthood and the number of abortions it performs increase at nearly parallel rates. The Guttmacher Institute (formerly part of Planned Parenthood) states in one of its many studies that abortion rates are reduced when public funding is restricted.
Planned Parenthood says that only 3% of their services are abortion “care”.
FALSE: This is probably the most deceptive of all Planned Parenthood marketing ploys. If abortion “care” really only represented 3% of its services, then Planned Parenthood lies when they say they must close down due to lost profits after state pass tighter health and safety regulations concerning abortion. View the video below produced by Students for Life to see the real truth.
Through Planned Parenthood’s family planning services, they provide quality and safe sex education programs both at their clinics and in many schools and school systems in order to foster a healthy lifestyle.
FALSE: We guess this one is going to have to depend on what you consider quality to be. If you’re looking for anything that remotely contains morality, responsibility or values, you’re going to have a hard time. Just click on the link below and watch the video below, and make sure there are no young children nearby that can hear or see this.
The focus of Planned Parenthood is not on abortion. It is on family planning and critical preventative health services such as mammograms, for low income or uninsured individuals.
FALSE: Planned Parenthood does NOT perform mammograms. Approximately, 1 in 4 abortions performed in the United States are now performed at Planned Parenthood facilities. According to the PPFA 2009-2010 Annual Report, none of the more than 800 Planned Parenthood “health centers” provided any true adoption assistance. In 1997, 9,381 women were referred to other agencies for adoption assistance. By 2010, that number had dropped to 841 women. While referrals for adoption assistance declined the number of abortions performed increased. During 1997, 165,174 abortions were performed; however, by 2010 the PPFA abortion business has dramatically increased to 329,445 abortions performed. Planned Parenthood now commits approximately 390 abortions for every adoption referral. Abortion is clearly the number #1 choice for Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood also plans to expand their abortion business. According to press reports, PPFA has recently mandated that all of its regional affiliates must provide abortions by the end of 2013.3
Planned Parenthood believes in the fundamental right of each individual, throughout the world, to manage his or her fertility, regardless of the individual’s income, marital status, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, or residence. Related to this, Planned Parenthood follows all state and local laws with respect to parental involvement.
FALSE: Planned Parenthood says that laws that mandate parental involvement only victimize teens; they do not prevent them from obtaining abortions. Instead, these laws, some which contain judicial bypass provisions, increase the delays teens experience in receiving services, simultaneously increasing the physical and emotional health risks, as well as the costs.4 Some Planned Parenthood affiliates have exhibited a pattern and practice of willfully violating and circumventing duly-enacted parental involvement laws, including those in Ohio. In many cases, there was no notification to parents or law enforcement in suspected cases of child abuse, child molestation, sexual abuse, rape or incest.5
View the videos released by the Center for Medical Progress in which Planned Parenthood admits to using a procedure similar to the illegal partial birth abortion technique to provide intact fetal body parts for a fee:
CLICK HERE to view the video released 7/14/15
CLICK HERE to view the video released 7/21/15
CLICK HERE to view the video released 7/28/15
CLICK HERE to view the video released 7/30/15
CLICK HERE to view the video released 8/4/15
CLICK HERE to view the video released 8/12/15
CLICK HERE to view the video released 8/25/15
CLICK HERE to view the video released 9/1/15
CLICK HERE to see the unreleased videos put out by hackers on 10/20/15
CLICK HERE to view the video released 10/27/15
CLICK HERE to view the video released 3/1/16
CLICK HERE to view the video released 3/29/17
CLICK HERE to view the video released 4/29/17
An additional video was released in May, 2017, but has been blocked by a California Judge. This video reveals several Planned Parenthood abortionists admitting to harvesting aborted baby parts for revenue.
CLICK HERE to view the video released 10/24/17
CLICK HERE to view the video released 11/7/17
CLICK HERE to view the video released 5/26/20
We need to support laws which ban the funding of Planned Parenthood from receiving our hard earned federal tax dollars!
CLICK HERE to view the alternatives to Planned Parenthood available in the Akron/Canton area.
Here are the resources for the alternatives to Planned Parenthood:
- For Community Action Agencies: Development Services Agency, http://development.ohio.gov/cs/cs_caa.htm.
- For Free Clinics: visit ohiofreeclinics.org
- For County, City and Local Health Departments: Ohio Department of Health, “Ohio’s Health Department Profile and Performance Database,” https://odhgateway.odh.ohio.gov/LHDInformationSystem/Directory/GetLHDReport.
- For Community Health Centers: visit Ohio Association of Community Health Centers, “About OACHC,” http://www.ohiochc.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=178
- Statewide Hospitals spent $989 million in free charity care in 2011. Read the January 2014 Columbus Dispatch story or read the Ohio Hospital Association’s 2013 Community Benefit Report:
- Ben Sutherly, “Central Ohio Hospitals Community Shifts Away from Charity Care,” Columbus Dispatch, 26 January 2014, http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/01/26/central-ohio-hospitals-community-help-shifts-away-from-charity-care.html.
- Ohio Hospitals Association, “2013 Community Benefit Report,” 11 December 2013, http://www.ohanet.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Community-Benefit-Report-2013-Final-website-post.pdf.
CLICK HERE to read the testimony submitted to the House Finance and Appropriations committee on HB59 by RTLNEO executive director Denise Leipold.
CLICK HERE to read the testimony submitted to the House Community and Family Advancement committee on HB294 by RTLNEO executive director Denise Leipold
CLICK HERE to read the testimony submitted to the Senate Finance committee on HB59 by RTLNEO executive director Denise Leipold. (CAUTION: contains graphic attachments that we consider pornographic in nature from educational material supplied to children by Planned Parenthood.)
CLICK HERE to read the full copy of The Case for Investigating Planned Parenthood
CLICK HERE to read an article about Planned Parenthood in the Schools
CLICK HERE to read Executive Director Denise Leipold’s 11/14/12 letter in the Akron Beacon Journal
CLICK HERE to read Executive Director Denise Leipold’s 10/12/15 letter to the Akron Beacon Journal
CLICK HERE to read Executive Director Denise Leipold’s 8/28/18 testimony to Summit County Council regarding a proposed resolution to express opposition by the council to the proposed rule changes to Title X funding of Planned Parenthood. To read the proposed legislation, click here. To read the rebuttal e-mail sent to council after the resolution passed committee, click here.
1 Stephanie Kight, President and CEO of Planned Parent Advocates of Ohio, opponent testimony to Ohio HB298 in response to questions from the Ohio House Health and Aging Committee, 11/14/2012.
2 Dr. Kimberly Shepherd, opponent testimony for Ohio HB298, page 3, paragraph 2; 11/14/2012.
3 Michigan Right to Life “Planned Parenthood’s Abortion Agenda”, www.rtl.org/prolife_issues/PlannedParenthoodagenda.htm
4Planned Parenthood Fact Sheet, “Pregnancy & Childbearing Among U.S. Teens”, 2010.
5The Case for Investigating Planned Parenthood, Appendix VII, Americans United for Life, 7/7/2011.
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