Planned Parenthood’s five clinics in New Hampshire will lose about one-third of their funding, after the state’s Executive Council voted to halt their state dollars on Wednesday.
The council, comprised of three Republicans and two Democrats, rejected about $650,000 in state funding to the women’s health and abortion provider, according to the Associated Press. Council members said the group should instead be investigated, now that it is known that some Planned Parenthood clinics participate in aborted fetal tissue donations.
Five videos released over the last few weeks by an anti-abortion group called the Center for Medical Progress show top Planned Parenthood officials in California, Colorado and Texas discussing how abortion doctors obtain aborted fetal organs and provide them to biomedical companies in exchange for financial compensation.
The videos have incited a hot debate over whether Planned Parenthood is breaking the law by profiting from the donations or whether its doctors have violated ethical standards by changing how they conduct abortion procedures. Planned Parenthood clinics in New Hampshire don’t participate in fetal tissue collections.
The clinics used the state funding for health services such as birth control, testing for sexually transmitted diseases and counseling. They will continue receiving federal dollars through Medicaid and family planning programs.
The New Hampshire Council is a board of elected members who are part of the state’s executive branch and act as representatives to the governor. Chris Sununu, a GOP councilor who has supported Planned Parenthood in the past, supported stripping the state funds from it.
Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan said she was unhappy about the vote in a statement she released.
“Planned Parenthood provides critical primary and preventive health care services to thousands of New Hampshire women, including cancer screenings, birth control and STD testing. Access to these services is essential to the economic security and vitality of our families, and I am incredibly disappointed in the outcome of today’s vote.”
