Ohio Right to Life Calls on Governor Kasich to Terminate Medicaid Agreements with Planned Parenthood
Videos Continue to Expose Planned Parenthood
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Katherine Franklin
DATE: Friday, August 7, 2015 PHONE: 614-949-7382
COLUMBUS, Ohio–Today, Ohio Right to Life called on pro-life Governor John Kasich to terminate the State of Ohio’s Medicaid Agreements with Planned Parenthood. The pro-life organization’s letter follows the release of a fifth video revealing Planned Parenthood executives participating in the alleged sale of aborted babies’ body parts. Just days after the release of the first video, Governor Kasich’s office released a statement condemning Planned Parenthood’s practices as “abhorrent.” Attorney General Mike DeWine launched an investigation of Planned Parenthood to determine whether or not Planned Parenthood affiliates in Ohio are also participating in the illegal sale of babies’ body parts.
“This week’s appalling video showed Planned Parenthood executives discussing ‘intact fetal cadavers’ as ‘line items’ in their organization’s budget,” said Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life. “If ‘intact fetal cadavers’ are in Planned Parenthood’s budget, Planned Parenthood doesn’t belong in ours.”
In fiscal year 2013-2014, Planned Parenthood received $528 million in taxpayer subsidies. According to the organization’s annual report, 94 percent of their pregnancy-related services were abortions, an increase from the previous year. The same year, adoption referrals and prenatal services dropped. Representatives Bill Patmon (D-Cleveland) and Margaret Conditt (R-Liberty Township) have introduced legislation to de-fund Planned Parenthood in Ohio.
“Planned Parenthood has outed themselves,” said Gonidakis. “In their own words and deeds, Planned Parenthood has shown the American public who they really are: a corporation that repeatedly puts profit over people. There’s absolutely no reason that an industry committing these kinds of atrocities should have 41 percent of its revenue coming from taxpayers who are fundamentally opposed to and repulsed by their business.”
Founded in 1967, Ohio Right to Life, with more than 45 chapters and local affiliates, is Ohio’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement in Ohio, ORTL works through legislation and education to promote and defend innocent human life from conception to natural death.