Members of both the House and the Senate were in their home districts meeting with constituents this week, so there are no new developments out of DC.
In Texas, Planned Parenthood has filed a lawsuit trying to stop the state from taking taxpayer money away from the organization. Then it got a federal judge to issue an injunction to stop the state from any action on the funding until the court case is completed. The state appealed that injunction, but this week a federal judge ruled that the injunction will stay in place until PP’s lawsuit has been decided.
In Kentucky, Governor Matt Bevin and state lawmakers are pledging to defund Planned Parenthood. A state Senate committee passed Senate Bill 8 on Wednesday, which would put Planned Parenthood at the back of the line to receive federal taxpayer dollars. EagleCountryOnline.com posted the following quote from Bevin: “As Governor, I will direct my Secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services not to distribute federal taxpayer dollars from that department to Planned Parenthood clinics. Federal taxpayer dollars appropriated to Planned Parenthood flow through the Governor’s administration. As Governor, I will prevent those dollars from being distributed, and order them returned to the federal government.”
In Virginia, the state legislature passed a bill that would have prevented the Department of Health from providing funds to any entity that commits abortions. That would include Planned Parenthood in the state. Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe vetoed that legislation this week. His veto came as no surprise since he is a longtime friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton, as well as a supporter of Planned Parenthood.
Following McAuliffe’s veto, Catholic bishops Francis DiLorenzo (Richmond) and Michael Burbidge (Arlington) issued the following statement: “Surrounded by Planned Parenthood supporters at a veto ceremony outside the Governor’s Mansion this morning, Gov. McAuliffe said his actions protected the rights and dignity of Virginia women—when, in fact, his actions harm the dignity of the women deceived by the multi-billion dollar abortion industry as well as the tiniest females, those still in the womb whose lives are brutally eliminated by abortion. . . . We will continue to fight for the day when Virginia law protects all human life, at every stage of development, from conception until natural death.”
The fight against Planned Parenthood continues to dominate pro-life news because Planned Parenthood operates 49 percent of all the abortion centers in the nation and kills 888 innocent children every single day.