Iowa Governor Terry Branstad announced he is ordering a review of funding Planned Parenthood receives for women’s health and through a family planning grant after a video was released showing Planned Parenthood involved in harvesting baby body parts, allegedly for profit. His administration released the following statement on Friday:
Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Reynolds believe in protecting the sanctity of life and are appalled by the newly circulated video where a senior Planned Parenthood employee casually discussed the sale of parts of aborted fetuses. As elected officials with strong pro-life records – including signing a bill requiring parental notifications should a minor seek an abortion as well as legislation requiring the option to view a sonogram before a procedure – learning of this video was disturbing.
In Iowa, Planned Parenthood does not receive state funds for abortions. Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Reynolds have ensured that Planned Parenthood is never reimbursed for an abortion. It is important to note that there have been zero taxpayer reimbursed Medicaid abortion procedures over the past two years.
Because Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Reynolds believe strongly that every life is worth protecting, they have asked the Iowa Department of Public Health to thoroughly review the funding the Legislature appropriated for women’s health and the Family Planning Block Grant to ensure it does not and will not ever fund abortions or operations related to abortion procedures.
Branstad spokesperson Jimmy Centers told Caffeinated Thoughts that there is not a line item in the state budget for Planned Parenthood, but any funding that could be provided to Planned Parenthood would come through a Family Planning Block Grant approved by the legislature when it passed SF 505 in June.
A second video was released today showing yet another senior staffer with Planned Parenthood haggling over the price of baby body parts.
