Taking A Stand In Indiana

On Friday Hot Air posted an article about Mitch Daniels, Governor of Indiana, signing a bill to  cut off government funding to Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider. Indiana will become the first state to take such an action.

The government funds abortion indirectly by allocating Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood when it serves Medicaid patients.  In signing this bill, Governor Daniels runs the risk of the government cutting off Medicaid funds to the state.  Federal law does provide that a state can't be selective in allocating Medicaid funds to medical providers who serve Medicaid patients.

The article also reports:

"His message to Planned Parenthood as the screaming begins: "Any organization affected by this provision can resume receiving taxpayer dollars immediately by ceasing or separating its operations that perform abortions." Exactly. We're constantly assured by the left that abortions are only the teeny-tiniest insignificant little part of the services that PP provides. Should be easy for them to go cold turkey, then, if they're keen on that Medicaid money. Nevertheless, to no one's surprise, they're already planning a court battle."

The Hyde Amendment, passed in 1976, was supposed to bar the use of taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions.  Planned Parenthood has gotten around the law simply by claiming that federal funds were used for other activities.  

Here is some information on Planned Parenthood's Budget from a website called Life Dedcisions International:

"PPFA's income for fiscal year 2008-2009 was more than $1.1 billion (up six percent from 2007-2008), with nearly one-third coming from taxpayers. This "not-for-profit" entity ends virtually every fiscal year with tens of millions of dollars in "excess revenue over expenses" (known to most people as "profit"). The "excess" for 2008-2009 alone was $64.4 million.

 

"On June 30, 2009, PPFA had net assets valued at $994.7 million, of which $396.3 million was unrestricted (essentially a savings account) and $179.9 million was temporarily restricted. Despite these huge sums, PPFA incessantly claims to need more taxpayer dollars."