Setbacks for Planned Parenthood defunding effort in Texas, Virginia

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe made good Tuesday on his threat to veto a bill redirecting funds from Planned Parenthood to health centers that do not perform abortions.

McAuliffe vowed to veto both H.B. 2264 and H.B. 1473, which would ban abortion after 20 weeks gestation. The former passed the House 60-33 and the Senate 20-19.

Abortion advocates applauded the veto, with NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia calling McAuliffe “a brick wall against attacks on women’s health.”

Olivia Gans Turner, president of Virginia Society for Human Life, said the veto was no surprise given the Democratic governor’s record.

“Planned Parenthood and the abortion lobby can depend on him to abandon the women and unborn children of the Commonwealth,” Turner said. “He does not care that Virginians do not want our taxes paying for abortion.”

Efforts to redirect taxpayer funding from the abortion giant soared after the 2015 release of undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood’s involvement in the sale of aborted baby body parts. But those efforts have had mixed success.

Last month in Texas, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks blocked a law that stripped Planned Parenthood of its $3 million in Medicaid funding. Sparks extended the injunction Tuesday while Planned Parenthood pursues its lawsuit against the new law.

The organization filed its suit in late 2015 after the state gave notice it planned to reallocate the funding.

Ohio, Wisconsin, and Tennessee, have successfully blocked funding to Planned Parenthood, but in Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, judges have blocked similar laws.

Last year, the Obama administration issued a mandate through the Department of Health and Human Services that prevented states from redirecting Title X funds from Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers to community health centers that do not provide abortions.

Earlier this month, the House passed a resolution to reverse that order.