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Iowa House Votes To Defund Planned Parenthood

Steve Weatherbe : Apr 21, 2017
LifeSiteNews

"Patients, not politicians, should decide how and where they receive their medical care," Democratic Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell said. "Stop playing politics with the health of Iowans. Stop the ideological train and fund the programs that are important to Iowa's most vulnerable citizens."

(Des Moines, IA) — [LifeSiteNews] The Iowa House of Representatives voted this week to deny $400,000 to 12 Planned Parenthood clinics in the state and redirect patients to other federally-qualified community health facilities. (Photo Credit: LifeSiteNews)

The $1.77 billion health and social service budget must still go to the state Senate, but the Republican majority is expected to support it, as is Gov. Terry Branstad.

The bill does not specifically exclude Planned Parenthood, but it denies state family planning funds to organization doing abortions. Because Medicaid spending in this area is tied to state allocations, the defunding will cost the state nearly $3 million in federal money.

Republican Sen. Amy Sinclair promised that healthcare would still be provided "in a way that is balanced with the needs and the concerns and the conscientious objections of those taxpayers that we represent who frankly are offended to their very soul by the intentional and unnecessary termination of the life of another human being."

The Iowa Legislative Services Agency reports that 3,781 Iowans received family planning services from Planned Parenthood last year through state-federal joint funding.

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