Bill targets Planned Parenthood funds

Anti-abortion activists demonstrate near a Planned Parenthood clinic Tuesday, in Philadelphia. Also, roughly 200 people rallied at the Ohio Statehouse as part of a national protest.
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COLUMBUS — A pair of state lawmakers, a Democrat and a Republican, on Tuesday introduced a bill designed to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood in the wake of videos that appear to show organization representatives discussing the pricing of fetal tissue and organs.

Roughly 200 people rallied at the Statehouse as part of a national protest.

“The rationale that I’ve seen advanced in the news media is that they’re not really paying for these parts,” said state Auditor Dave Yost, a Republican. “They’re just taking fees to offset their costs.”

He pointed to the latest graphic video from Denver released Tuesday in which a doctor appears to favor per-item pricing to see what it would garner.

“That doesn’t sound to me like covering costs,” Mr. Yost said. “Maybe I’m a suspicious old former prosecutor, but that sounds an awful lot to me like a profit motive.”

Planned Parenthood of Ohio has said it is not involved in fetal tissue donation in this state, which forbids such activity.

“The videos in question are heavily edited and do not reflect Planned Parenthood’s long commitment to providing high quality health-care to millions of Americans,” said Sandy Theis, executive director of the liberal advocacy group ProgressOhio.

“Fetal tissue research has led to medical miracles,” she said. “Groundbreaking fetal research created vaccines against measles, rubella, and other diseases, and human fetal kidney cells were used to develop the polio vaccine that resulted in the 1954 Nobel Prize in Medicine. Ohio leaders should be focusing on ways to enhance medical research, not undermine it. ”

Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine, who did not attend the rally, has launched an investigation. A representative of U.S. Sen. Rob Portman said the senator has called for a federal investigation.

In addition to Mr. Yost, the rally was joined by fellow Republicans Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, Secretary of State Jon Husted, and Senate President Keith Faber (R., Celina), and by Rep. Bill Patmon (D., Cleveland). 

The Democratic lawmaker joined Rep. Margaret Conditt, a southwest Ohio Republican, in introducing a bill instructing the state Department of Health not to provide state funds or Ohio’s share of federal funds to an organization that performs or promotes abortions, makes abortion referrals, or is affiliated with any entity that performs or promotes abortion.

Ohio Right to Life said Planned Parenthood received $1.3 million in taxpayer subsidies in fiscal year 2014.

In recent budgets, Ohio has moved to limit funding to Planned Parenthood, placing it at the bottom of the priority list when it comes to disbursing federal family planning dollars and redirecting pregnancy center funding away from the clinics.

The state’s two-year budget, signed by Gov. John Kasich on June 30, also imposed additional restrictions on abortion clinics. One, aimed at Toledo’s Capital Care Network, would require an abortion clinic to have an agreement in place with a “local” hospital for the transfer of a patient in case of emergency.

Capital Care struck a deal with the University of Michigan Health Center about 50 miles away in Ann Arbor after it couldn’t find a closer facility willing to enter into such an agreement. The budget now defines “local” as being within 30 miles of the clinic, which could negate the UMHC agreement. Capital Care is in court fighting to keep its operating license.

“Ohio will soon have fewer abortion clinics than at any time since the 1970s,” Mr. Faber said.

Contact Jim Provance at: jprovance@theblade.com or 614-221-0496.