Trying To Stop Government Funds To Planned Parenthood

By Penny Starr
March 18, 2008

(CNSNews.com) - Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) is proposing an amendment to the appropriations bill that funds the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services to prohibit federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

"I just think it's wrong that the largest abortion provider in America is the largest recipient of non-abortion funding under Title X," Pence told Cybercast News Service.

Title X is the "family planning" program run by HHS that funds birth control clinics.

Pence said his amendment mirrors the so-called "Mexico City policy" that currently prohibits federal funding for family planning programs overseas that perform or promote abortions.

"We don't give any U.S. tax dollars to any foreign family planning organization that promotes or provides abortion as a means of birth control," Pence said.

"We do that because we recognize that whatever Americans believe about abortion, they understand that it's morally wrong to take the taxpayer dollars from millions of Americans who find abortion morally objectionable and use it to support organizations that promote abortion overseas," he added.

"There is, however, no domestic Mexico City," said Pence. "Organizations like Planned Parenthood can do non-abortion family planning, receive federal funding for non-abortion family planning, even though another part of the same organization provides and promotes abortion as a form of birth control.

"I think it's time for a domestic Mexico City policy," he said.