This week, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam signed a bill that will strip Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics of state funding. The bill originally went through the Tennessee legislature in March, with Rep. Jimmy Matlock (R) arguing in its favor.
Rep. Matlock pointed out that the funding given to the clinics was indirectly paying for abortions, which has amounted to almost $1 million in the past 6 years.
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“The governor…deferred to the will of the legislature on this bill as amended, and after reviewing the bill in its final form decided to sign the bill into law,” Jennifer Donnals, Haslam’s press secretary, said.
The new law will now bar TennCare, the state’s Medicaid program, from funneling money to Planned Parenthood, or any other abortion clinic.
Planned Parenthood did not take the news well, arguing that the funding they receive from the state does not go toward abortions, but rather “health care” for women. Planned Parenthood as a whole still maintains that abortion only makes up 3 percent of all of its services, a manipulated statistic that has been debunked on multiple occasions.
When you break down the statistics listed in the organization’s own financial statement, the findings are shocking. At Planned Parenthood 94 percent of the pregnancy “services” are abortion-related.
One benefit of defunding abortion clinics in Tennessee is that the money that once went to the clinics will now go to real health care providers.
Senators from Tennessee argued that there are many other places the money is actually needed. But state Sen. Mike Bell (R), the sponsor of the bill, stated that the bill would not cut money, but rather reallocate funds in a way that actually benefits the people of Tennessee.
“We have dozens of other medical clinics,” Bell said. “This is not a cut. It is the policy of the state to favor child birth as an integral part of the health and the welfare of the state.”
“This bill is a statemet,” he added. “It’s a statement from this legislative body. It’s a statement from the people of Tennessee, that we want our money to stop going to providers that perform elective abortions.”
(H/T: Live Action News)