Legislative Committee Says Yes To Funding Planned Parenthood

The one pro-life bill yet to reach Governor Jack Dalrymple’s desk is SB2368, which is related to fetal pain. That bill was amended by Rep. Bette Grande to prohibit any state agency from partnering with a group that promotes abortions. The amendment was aimed at North Dakota State University which, thumbing its nose at the legislature, has accepted a $1.2 million federal grant to partner with left-wing abortion giant Planned Parenthood.

The bill was in conference committee today and Grande’s amendment was unfortunately stripped out:

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota legislative negotiators have killed an amendment to an anti-abortion bill that had threatened a 3-year, $1.2 million federal sex education grant for North Dakota State University.

A conference committee of 3 House members and three senators voted unanimously Tuesday to delete the amendment from a Senate measure. The bill is aimed at outlawing abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy based on the disputed premise that a fetus can feel pain at that point.

I suspect that this bill was likely to be vetoed any way – it’s superfluous in light of an earlier bill banning abortion after a heartbeat is detected – but it’s disappointing to see the legislature embrace the flow of taxpayer dollars to political advocacy organizations.

To me, this issue wasn’t just about abortion. This is about whether tax dollars should go to advocacy groups, which Planned Parenthood is. The opponents of Rep. Grande’s amendments claim that they’re supporting “academic freedom,” but it seems to me that sex education can be studied and taught without funneling money to a political group.

I’ve objected when state tax dollars flow to groups like the Chamber of Commerce, and it doesn’t make me any happier to see tax dollars go to a group like Planned Parenthood.

The government shouldn’t be funding advocacy, no matter which side of the political spectrum that advocacy comes from.