Congress Urged to Halt $300 Million to Planned Parenthood

Congress Urged to Halt $300 Million to Planned Parenthood
By Randy Hall
CNSNews.com Staff Writer/Editor
October 26, 2007

(CNSNews.com) - More than 60 pro-life leaders from across the country called on Congress Thursday to suspend over $300 million in annual taxpayer funding to the nation's biggest abortion provider while one of its local affiliates faces 107 criminal counts in Kansas.

"Congress has a duty to the American taxpayer to ensure that public funds are not used to support illegal activities," said Brian Burch, president of the Catholic advocacy group Fidelis, in a news release announcing the letter, which was sent to each member in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

"Given the evidence compiled in connection with these charges, Congress must take immediate action to ensure that federal funds are not being used to harm and endanger women," he added. "Anything less would constitute a serious breach of the public trust."

Burch was one of 62 signers - including the leaders of such conservative groups as Conservative Women for America, Women Influencing the Nation (WIN) and Operation Rescue - seeking "immediate suspension of Planned Parenthood's federal funding until it can be determined whether the organization violated state and/or federal laws."

According to the complaint filed in Kansas's Johnson County District Court last week, Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri is accused of 29 misdemeanor counts of performing "unlawful late-term abortions," 29 misdemeanor counts of "unlawful failure to determine viability for late-term abortion," 23 felony counts of "making false information" and 27 misdemeanor counts of "unlawful failure to maintain records."

Because the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) operates about 860 facilities around the U.S. and approximately 40 states ban late-term abortions, "this illegal conduct may be happening all over the country," the letter stated.

"States have passed laws on late-term abortions because they are detrimental to women as well as babies," the document noted. "Women are often not informed that late-term abortions increase the likelihood of severe blood loss, damage to vital organs, later premature births and loss of fertility."

Thursday's letter is the latest fallout of charges filed on Oct. 17 by Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline, who served for eight years in the Kansas House of Representatives before narrowly winning election as state attorney general in 2002.

As Cybercast News Service previously reported, Kline ordered Kansas abortion clinics to turn over the medical records of women and girls who had late-term abortions in 2003 to learn if they'd had the procedure after the unborn child had gestated for 22 weeks, the legal limit in the state.

Kline later sought to prosecute Wichita-based abortionist George Tiller.

However, he lost the post in the 2006 election to abortion rights supporter Johnson County D.A. Paul Morrison, and in a bizarre twist, Kline was soon appointed to fill Morrison's old office.

While telephone calls seeking comment from Planned Parenthood were not returned by press time, Peter Brownlie, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, said in a release on the PPFA Web site that the charges are "baseless" and part of an "outrageous attack" by Kline, whom he called "a hard-line crusader against reproductive rights."

The records and documents upon which Kline is relying have been fully reviewed by Morrison, Brownlie added, who announced in June that after "an objective, unbiased and thorough examination of the numerous documents and medical records," no evidence of any criminal wrongdoing was found.

"This attack on women's rights must end," Brownlie stated.

However, WIN President Jenn Giroux told Cybercast News Service on Thursday that attempts to narrow the issue to a "crusade" by Kline overlooks the fact that District Judge James Vano spent eight hours reviewing the indictment on Oct. 17 before deciding there was "probable cause" to proceed with the case.

"There's a lot of political back-and-forth going on in Kansas, but when you have 107 charges and a finding of probable cause, it moves from the political realm to the legal realm," Giroux stated. "It'll be very interesting to see what the evidence is" when it is unsealed and presented to a jury sometime in the next few months.

Cybercast News Service also reported that during its 2005-2006 fiscal year, the PPFA attained a profit of $55.8 million after receiving record taxpayer funding of $305.3 million.

Jim Sedlak, executive director of Stop Planned Parenthood (STOPP) International, said on Thursday that although Democrats have marginal control of both houses of Congress, the charges in Kansas might be enough to convince federal officials that the abortion provider doesn't deserve government money.

"We had a very significant vote in July in the House on the labor, health and human services bill," he told Cybercast News Service. Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) "introduced an amendment to take all Title X money away from Planned Parenthood, and although we didn't win that time, we failed by only 20 votes."

Sedlak stated that the 107 criminal counts submitted last week are "only going to add to the reasons why Planned Parenthood should not get funding," noting that "a district attorney put the charges together, and a judge reviewed the thousands of pages of documents supporting them."

"It's not as if somebody just beamed it up and threw the charges in," he added.

cpforlife.org

Would you please use your ping list for this thread, and also my closely-related post which I received by e-mail?

From my e-mail:

“U. S. Senate to vote on federal funding of abortion — please act now!

This is a congressional alert from the National Right to Life Committee
(Federal Legislation Department), issued on Thursday, October 25, 2007, at 5:30 PM
EDT. Please forward this alert to any appropriate lists.

WASHINGTON (October 25, 2007) — Sometime within the near future — possibly
as early as the week of October 29 — the U.S. Senate may take up S. 1200, a
bill to make extensive changes to the laws governing federal health programs
for American Indians, which are administered by the Indian Health Service.
Some years ago, federal Indian Health Service (IHS) funds were used to
provide abortion on demand. That is not occurring at the present, but it is
necessary to amend the permanent law to ensure that it does not occur again in the
future. That goal would be achieved by an amendment that pro-life Senator David
Vitter (R-La.) intends to offer when the Senate takes up S. 1200.

The Vitter Amendment is similar to the Hyde Amendment, but would permanently
apply to the IHS. If enacted, it would alter the basic IHS law to permanently
prohibit federal funding of abortion (except to save the life of the mother,
rape, or incest) in all federal Indian health programs.

For a number of senators, this will be the first time that they vote on the
issue of direct federal funding of abortion. That is because the Senate has
not conducted a roll call vote squarely on an amendment to prohibit direct
funding of abortion procedures since 1999. (However, the Senate has voted
repeatedly on related issues, such as funding for organizations that promote abortion
and the use of federal military facilities for self-funded abortions.) All
U.S. Senators need to hear immediately from constituents who are opposed to
federal funding of abortion.
PLEASE CALL NOW!

The surest, fastest, and most helpful way to communicate with senators on
this matter is to use the NRLC “Call Alert” tool on the NRLC website’s
Legislative Action Center, _here_
(http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/callalert/index.tt?alertid=10477021&type=CO) .
[Note: Due to a temporary technical problem with America Online, AOL users
may have trouble accessing that link. If this occurs, you can use another
browser, such as Internet Explorer or Firefox, to reach the NRLC website’s
Legislative Action Center directly at this Internet address:
_http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/home/_ (http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/home/) ]
This handy tool provides you with the phone numbers of your two U.S.
senators, and short talking points that will help you deliver the right message.
Also, the tool gives you an easy way to send NRLC an e-mail to report on what your
senators’ staffpersons said, if you choose to do so (this helps NRLC’s
lobbying efforts).
YOU CAN SEND E-MAILS TOO, BUT . . .
If you prefer to send an e-mail to your senators rather than call, NRLC has
provided a suggested message that you can send with a few mouse clicks, _here_
(http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/issues/alert/?alertid=10475066&type=CO) .
However, be aware that congressional offices are receiving huge volumes of e-mail
messages on many issues, and in many offices such messages may not be reviewed
and counted for a considerable period of time.
To read NRLC’s letter to the Senate on this issue, click _here_
(http://www.nrlc.org/Federal/GFA/IndianHealthSenateLetter.html) .
To review NRLC scorecards of how your senators (and House members) have voted
on other key pro-life issues, click _here_ (http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/home/)
.
For further information, contact the NRLC Federal Legislation Department at
202-626-8820. “

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