Bentley terminates Alabama’s Medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama Governor Robert Bentley (R) Thursday terminated the state’s Medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood after the legitimacy of using any taxpayer dollars to fund the abortion provider was once again called into question following the release of several videos describing its harvest and sale of aborted baby organs and body parts.

“The deplorable practices at Planned Parenthood have been exposed to Americans, and I have decided to stop any association with the organization in Alabama,” said Governor Bentley. “As a doctor and Alabama’s Governor, the issue of human life, from conception to birth and beyond, is extremely important to me. I respect human life, and I do not want Alabama to be associated with an organization that does not.”

Yellowhammer has obtained a copy of the letter sent to Planned Parenthood CEO Staci Fox Thursday afternoon.

Planned Parenthood currently receives more than $500 million annually in federal funding, mostly through Medicaid reimbursements.

It is through the mechanism of Medicaid—whose funding is controlled through the states—that some red state governors, now including Governor Bentley, have begun their own efforts to defund abortion providers.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who is also a 2016 presidential hopeful, announced Monday his state was terminating their contract with Planned Parenthood’s clinics.

Eight other states besides Alabama ban all state family planning money from going to clinics which provide abortions, including Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, Ohio, Texas, and Wisconsin.

Today a committee in the Alabama Senate voted to advance legislation making it a Class B felony to offer or accept money for aborted babies or parts of aborted babies.

“The nation is shocked by videos depicting Planned Parenthood employees callously discussing the dismemberment of babies and the sale of baby body parts for profit. This is like a story out of Nazi Germany,” said Sen. Bill Hightower (R-Mobile) during the committee hearing. “The federal authorities may allow this type of thing, but Alabama won’t – and upon final passage, Alabama will have a law that reflects Alabama’s values.”

Via: Yellowhammer

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Awesome: Alabama House Leader Moves To Block UN Poll Watchers From Operating In His State…

Montgomery – In response to news that poll watchers affiliated with the United Nations will be sent across the country to monitor balloting in various states and search for evidence of “voter suppression” during the upcoming November 6 presidential election, Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard said he will support legislation in the next session requiring all poll watchers in Alabama to hold U.S. citizenship.

“The United States is the worldwide beacon of free elections and the Republican form of government, so having an international squad from the United Nations playing referee in our elections is insulting and absurd,” Hubbard said. “We’ve been holding elections in the U.S. for the past 223 years without the United Nations playing a role or enforcing the rules, and we certainly don’t want or need them now.”

At the request of several liberal-leaning groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, the NAACP and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a United Nations affiliate, announced it will deploy a team of poll watchers to polling sites across the country in order to monitor and document potential disputes.

The poll watchers will come from Serbia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Germany and France, and other countries.

Hubbard said he will push the law in order to ensure U.N. observers are blocked from future elections in Alabama by allowing only those who are U.S. citizens to be certified as poll watchers in the state.

“If you can’t participate in an election in the United States, and if you can’t cast a vote in the United States, you really have no business serving as a poll watcher in an election being held in the United States,” Hubbard said. “It’s bad enough that Alabama remains trapped under the provisions of the Voting Rights Act, so we certainly don’t need anyone from the United Nations coming into our state and meddling in our elections, as well.”

Via: Yellow Hammer

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