Ohio Senate votes to defund Planned Parenthood

On Wednesday, Senate Bill 214 passed in the Ohio Senate, which would prevent state funds and certain federal funds from being used toward performing abortions. The bill, originally introduced by Senate President Keith Faber, R-Celina, passed in a 23-10 vote.SB 214 would not allow funds to be used to perform or promote abortions unless the mother's life is in danger or if the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest.Steve David, Communications Manager for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, believes that it is important to keep funding for Planned Parenthood for reproductive freedoms in Ohio.“We recently testified against Senate Bill 214, which would strip state funding from Planned Parenthood,” David said. “This bill takes away funding for public education and other important endeavors that are critical overall for women’s health. Our testimony provides a brief summary of some of our concerns about this bill and why Planned Parenthood is important for reproductive freedom in Ohio.”Katie Franklin, director of communications for Ohio Right to Life, believes that defunding of Planned Parenthood is necessary because the organization provides too many abortions and that the bill will allow taxpayers to save money. “Defunding Planned Parenthood has been on Ohio Right to Life’s legislative agenda for years. The sole reason that we have advocated for defunding is because Planned Parenthood is the number one provider of abortions in the country,” Franklin said.According to a report from the official Planned Parenthood website, the organization has also reduced teen pregnancy to a 20-year low, increased the use of long-acting reversible contraception, expanded care and provided 487,000 breast exams.“Despite the fact that most Americans oppose tax dollars being funneled to abortion providers, Planned Parenthood received $528 million in fiscal year 2013-2014,” Franklin said. “Undoubtedly, defunding Planned Parenthood would protect pro-life taxpayers’ conscience rights.”Franklin believes that a video scandal negotiating dollar values for aborted babies’ hearts, livers, lungs and heads allowed people to see what taxpayer-funded Planned Parenthood really does. This is another reason Ohio Right to Life is making an effort to defund Planned Parenthood.Faber provided sponsor testimony on defunding Planned Parenthood to Ohio Right to Life explaining why Planned Parenthood is not always positive."Whether you call yourself pro-life or pro-choice, I think most people have an issue with taxpayer dollars going to an organization that seeks to profit off of the harvest of body parts from the unborn," Faber said. "After viewing these videos, it was sickening for me to know that this organization, which is willing to ruthlessly dismember an unborn child in order to obtain a profit, is also partially funded by the taxpayers of the state of Ohio."   According to Planned Parenthood news, David Daleiden admitted that he and others heavily edited the videos attacking Planned Parenthood.“Nothing about Daleiden and his organization, the Center for Medical Progress, has been honest. He’s used a false identity, created a fake biomedical firm, deceptively edited videos to attack Planned Parenthood, and then hired a fake forensic practice to analyze those videos,” said Eric Ferrero, vice president for communications for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “Yet there is still no evidence that Planned Parenthood has done anything wrong.”Supporters of Planned Parenthood still oppose SB 214. The bill is now awaiting action by the Ohio House.