Keeping taxpayer dollars out of Planned Parenthood

According to an Associated Press report, abortions have dropped nationally by 12 percent. WORLD’s Courtney Crandell reported that abortion advocates point to greater access to contraceptives and a correlating drop in unintended pregnancies, while pro-lifers say changing attitudes about abortion, new pro-life state laws, and better technology deserve much of the credit for the decline. I agree with the pro-life advocates, adding the defunding of Planned Parenthood in some states, which caused the organization to shut down some of its facilities.

But regardless of the reasons, the news is good. Fewer abortions mean less blood shed for convenience.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has gone a step further by barring Planned Parenthood from participating in a tax-funded, state and federal breast and cervical cancer services program. Most of us have two main problems with paying taxes: they’re too high and you have no direct control where the money goes. Roads and infrastructure? Good. Police and fire departments? Great. Libraries and museums? OK. Killing babies? For pro-lifers, awful.

Abortion is wrong, no matter what an elected body or the U.S. Supreme Court says. It is an immoral law. What kind of government would expect any citizen to cover the cost of ripping human beings from the womb? Count me among the pro-lifers who don’t want to pay abortion mills even to do cancer screenings. There must be other places in Texas where women can receive a screening under this government program. Joe Pojman, executive director of Texas Alliance for Life, said he thinks taxpayer money is “far better spent on the numerous alternative providers that are available throughout Texas.”

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards told The Texas Tribune, “It’s really incredible how low the governor and some of the state legislators will go when you start throwing women out of cancer screening programs and making it impossible for them to continue to go get services where they have before.”

Planned Parenthood still receives taxpayer money and even donates to news organizations like The Texas Tribune (see the disclosure at the end of the article). Do abortion advocates understand how the shedding of innocent blood is offensive to us and to God? “But reproductive choice!” “But women’s health!” Not one penny of our hard-earned money should go to organizations that kill unborn babies. Let the pro-abortion side voluntarily pay into a fund for the procedures.

What a time we live in. Abortion is legal, and we fund the facilities. Tiny human beings who can’t live outside the womb are ripped from it, a place where they’re supposed to be safe. But God forgives, heals, and helps us deal with the anger.