Given that the federal attempt to shut down Planned Parenthood (which I previously wrote about here) failed, it seems that now Republicans in power among the individual states are on the move to attack their new favorite whipping post.
In my neighboring state of Indiana, Governor Mitch Daniels wants to remove Medicaid funding of Planned Parenthood. Keep in mind that Federal law prevents Medicaid funds from being used to fund abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or the life of the pregnant woman is at risk. Which means that by making this move, Gov. Daniels is putting the health of millions of poor women on the line by severely limiting their access to annual breast, STI and PAP screenings, contraception (hormonal contraception is used to treat a variety of hormonal disorders) as well as pre and post natal care that is performed at some PP centers. PP spokespeople have commented as saying that should the bill pass, PP will file against it.
The bill also has a rider that would move the break-off time for receiving an abortion up to 20 weeks, several weeks prior to the federal limit of viability which is described by most doctors as several weeks after this mark.
Here in Ohio, we aren't much better off, considering that there is a "Heartbeat Bill" still going before the State Legislature. It more than likely won't pass constitutional review, as it violates the viability language of Roe v Wade. (Some may remember this bill as being the one in which a fetus was called to testify before the State Legislature. Neither of the two pregnant women who had agreed to be ultrasounded before the representatives showed.) My friend Daniel Sprockett wrote a column about how the bill was bad science, since heart cells will rhythmically pulse independently of a body.
But since when did the conservatives let science or constitutionality get in their way? :p.
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