Urgent Action Needed: Stop Tax-Payer Funding of Abortion in VA’s Budget
This week, state budget negotiators are meeting to finalize amendments to the 2018-2020 biennium budget, and before them are three amendments critically important to the pro-life cause. They are designed to eliminate, reduce, and/or reprioritize the public funding of abortions and the subsidizing of abortion providers in Virginia.
ACTION: Please contact the House and Senate budget conferees now to urge them to support these critical pro-life budget amendments that protect taxpaying Virginians from funding more abortions!
Limiting Public Funding of Abortions
The first amendment, introduced by Delegate Dave LaRock (R-33, Hamilton), would simply bring Virginia in line with the majority of states and with the federal Hyde Amendment – limiting taxpayer funding for abortions to only the narrow cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. Current Virginia law allows the state to pay for elective low-income abortions of unborn children with disabilities. This horrific practice forces taxpayers to fund the death of an unborn child if two physicians who work for the Department of Health think it’s justified. But how could it ever be justified?!? Life has intrinsic value, regardless of physical or mental challenges, and every child is worthy of life and should be ensured the opportunity to be valued members of society.
Defunding Planned Parenthood and Other Abortion Centers
A second amendment, introduced by Delegate Scott Garrett (R-23, Lynchburg), would prohibit the Department of Health from sending state funds to abortion centers, including Planned Parenthood, whether for abortion or anything else. It would also reprioritize the types of entities that the Health Department contracts with or provides grants for family planning services.
Stopping the “LARC” Funds from Flowing to Abortion Providers
The third amendment, introduced by Senator Siobhan Dunnavant (R-12, Glen Allen), would modify the Long Active Reversible Contraception (LARC) program created in last year’s budget – despite our strong objection – to limit the use of those funds to only the purchase of the IUD device (with no dollars actually going to Planned Parenthood) and encourage partnerships with other organizations to reduce the average cost of the device. This amendment comes after the program resulted in nearly $3M being allocated to the abortion industry with very vague language defining its use.
ACTION: Please contact the budget conference committee members now and urge them to support these critical pro-life amendments!
