North Carolina Says 'No' to Planned Parenthood

State Legislature cuts $500,000 in grants to abortion provider.

(photo: Shutterstock)

RALEIGH, N.C. (EWTN News) — The North Carolina Legislature overrode a veto by Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue on June 15 to approve a state budget that strips public funds from abortion provider Planned Parenthood. One pro-life advocate praised the move as a sign that Americans don’t want to “subsidize abortionists.”

The budget eliminates about $500,000 in grants for Planned Parenthood contraception and teenage-pregnancy-prevention programs, the Carolina Journal reports.

It also saves $50,000 by eliminating the State Abortion Fund. The fund financed abortions for residents to end a pregnancy which results from rape or incest or which endangers the life of the mother, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

Lila Rose, a investigative journalist with the pro-life group Live Action, praised the action to “ensure that no taxpayer dollars go towards funding the biggest abortion business in America.”

Rose said that Planned Parenthood performs more than 332,000 abortions each year across the U.S.

“Planned Parenthood manipulates women to choose abortion and routinely aids and abets the sexual exploitation and trafficking of young girls,” she charged. “Governors of other states should take note of how Gov. Perdue’s Legislature has decisively rejected her veto and realize that the American people do not want to subsidize abortionists.”

Live Action undercover investigations have filmed Planned Parenthood staffers’ controversial responses to purported underage women seeking abortions without parental consent and to actors pretending to be sex traffickers.

“While we wait for Congress to defund Planned Parenthood at the federal level, responsible state governments should do their part to protect women and unborn children and end local public subsidies of this lawless abortion chain,” Rose said.

North Carolina becomes the third state to cut state taxpayer dollars from Planned Parenthood this year.

Kansas Republican Gov. Sam Brownback signed a bill to bar funding in May, a few weeks after Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels signed a measure to cut funding in Indiana.

However, the Indiana legislation has come under fire for also limiting Medicaid funds to the organization.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has said that it is a violation of federal rules for states to bar Planned Parenthood from providing family-planning services under Medicaid.

Last year New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a measure meant to provide $7.5 million for family-planning businesses, resulting in the closure of at least one Planned Parenthood location.