— Indiana is poised to become the first state to cut off all government funding for the Planned Parenthood organization, providing a significant victory for the anti-abortion movement but posing a political predicament for the state’s governor, Mitch Daniels, as he considers running for president.
The Indiana House is expected to vote as soon as today to cut off the $3 million in federal money the state distributes to the organization for family planning and health programs. The Senate approved the measure earlier this month. Archive: The 1973 Roe v. Wade Case>
The action would open a new legislative front in the conservative assault on the organization, which has been targeted for its abortion services. Efforts to cut off federal funds in Congress failed this year, but bills are moving in a number of statehouses.
For Daniels, the Indiana measure forces him to decide between the state’s fiscal interests and a prime goal of his party’s social conservatives. If he signs the legislation, Indiana would risk losing $4 million in Medicaid funds for indigent births and other care. If he vetoes it, Daniels could antagonize ardent social conservatives who have already been wary of his public statements about the importance of focusing on economic issues this year.
A Daniels spokeswoman said the governor would not comment until the bill arrives on his desk for action. Daniels has said he will decide on a run for president after the Legislature adjourns, which is expected Friday.
Planned Parenthood says abortions account for just 3 percent of the services it provides. Planned Parenthood clinics perform 1 million screenings for cervical cancer, 830,000 breast exams and some 4 million tests and treatments for sexually transmitted diseases. Abortion-rights supporters say cutting funding for Planned Parenthood would primarily hurt poor women who often have few choices for health care.
Conservative lawmakers say, however, that any money the organization receives at least indirectly supports abortions. “If we’re buying the roof over their head or their paper clips, we’re still subsidizing abortion,” said Republican Rep. Matt Ubelhor, who sponsored a bill to ban state grants or contracts to Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood officials have vowed to go to court to challenge any legislative cut-off. Indiana social agencies say federal law doesn’t allow states to choose which agencies receive Medicaid funds, so all $4 million of the state’s family planning funds could be frozen.
Republicans in Congress and in state legislatures see state action as an effective new tactic against Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers. The push has been intensified since last fall’s midterm ballot elected more Republican governors and larger Republican majorities in many statehouses. Other tough restrictions on abortions have already been approved in many conservative states.
Abortion-rights supporters expect they’ll be fighting the de-funding issue in other state legislatures. “These battles have been going on for decades,” said Elizabeth Nash, who tracks state legislation for the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive-health research organization that supports abortion rights. “They rise and they fall, but right now they seem to be the worst that we’ve seen.”
