Ohio Right to Life Pushes Congress to De-Fund Planned Parenthood
Video Scandal Continues to Reveal Planned Parenthood’s Controversial Practices
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Katherine Franklin
DATE: Tuesday, September 15, 2015 PHONE: 614-547-0099 ext. 304
COLUMBUS, Ohio–Today, Ohio Right to Life delivered letters to the the Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner and the offices of Ohio’s pro-life members of Congress, urging them to support a clean spending bill that reroutes taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood to community health centers. The initiative to redirect taxpayer funding from the abortion provider has received renewed energy and attention following the release of undercover footage of Planned Parenthood executives and staff discussing the alleged sale of aborted babies’ body parts. In 2013, Planned Parenthood received over half a billion taxpayer dollars from the federal government, about 41 percent of its revenue.
“Over the last several weeks, the American people have witnessed the horrific practices of Planned Parenthood,” said Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life. “As Planned Parenthood directors price the hearts, livers, brains, and full ‘intact cadavers’ of aborted children, the American people have every reason and every right to expect that this industry be removed from the United States’ budget. The Constitution grants Congress–not the President–the power of the purse, and it is up to our pro-life leaders to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not feeding these horrific practices.”
Polling routinely shows that over 60% of those polled oppose taxpayer funding for abortion. Since the release of the first undercover video in July, former corporate sponsors, including Coca-Cola and Ford, have distanced themselves from Planned Parenthood. Additionally, StemExpress, the fetal tissue procurement company featured in the videos, has ended its business partnership with the organization.
“Planned Parenthood’s unfiltered, unedited, callous attitude towards the unborn has pushed them to the very fringe of civilized society,” said Gonidakis. “As private businesses cut their ties with Planned Parenthood, we must urge that our federal and state governments do the same. Now we stand at a crossroad, asking ourselves, ‘What kind of country do we want to be?’ One that leads the charge to protect the innocent, or one the submits to the dictates of a billion dollar corporation with every political and financial motive to be funded to eternity.”
To read Ohio Right to Life’s letter to Ohio’s pro-life congressmen, click here.
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.
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