Wisconsin Republican lawmakers say they plan to make defunding Planned Parenthood and banning research on aborted fetal tissue major parts of their legislative agenda.
Live Action News has previously reported that the state chapter of Planned Parenthood still receives between $15 and $16 million in tax dollars annually. Two new bills to be introduced in the coming months would reduce that by $7.5 million.
The first would eliminate approximately $3 million in federal grant money, and the second would deny the abortion giant an additional $4.5 million by narrowing what providers of birth control drugs can bill Medicaid for to actual acquisition costs and a dispensing fee.
The third bill would prohibit any research on fetal organs acquired from any baby aborted after January 1, 2015. Though a major pro-life priority since the Center for Medical Progress’s undercover videos broke earlier this summer, banning the research faces hurdles from GOP state Senators Van Wanggaard and Alberta Darling (a former Planned Parenthood board member), and the pro-GOP Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the most influential business group in the state. They claim the legislation would impede valuable medical research.
As also covered by Live Action, the University of Wisconsin-Madison conducts research on tissue from aborted babies’ organs. Last month, nearly 700 faculty members signed an open letter calling on their reliance on abortion for research material to remain legal.
