Neb., Tenn. defund Planned Parenthood

“Nebraska and Tennessee this month joined more than a dozen states that have cut funding for abortion providers like Planned Parenthood, a pro-life campaign that has seen mixed results.” BPNews

Discussion

This is a great start, and those who support this need to be ready for a court test of the Hyde Amendment and Harris v. McRae, where the Supreme Court found that states are NOT required to provide funding to abortionists. This precedent was the inspiration for a Michigan ballot initiative in 1987 to end Medicaid funding for abortion—one that passed, thankfully.

And as I’ve noted before (and will again), the key issue here is that except in big cities (half a million people or more) and a few D1 college towns, there simply isn’t enough business for an abortionist to make ends meet. So if you cut off funding for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers, you more or less relegate legal abortion to those big cities because most of us don’t want to do business with a “doctor” who kills for a living, even a lot of otherwise pro-choice people.

That’s why Planned Parenthood and NARAL point out with some anger that most counties in the country don’t have abortion “services”. It doesn’t pay, and if you get rid of the subsidies, there would be entire states without an abortuary. And when the roof didn’t fall in in those states, you’d have more populous states wondering whether it’s really necessary. It’s a very real end game for abortion rights activists.

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.