South Carolina Gov Henry McMaster signs executive order today blocking funds to abortion facilities, Planned Parenthood
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster issued an executive order preventing abortion facilities from receiving any state or local money.
McMaster’s order means that South Carolina won’t provide funds “via grant, contract, state-administered funds, or any other form” to any physician or doctor’s office affiliated with an abortion facility, particularly Planned Parenthood.
This applies to “any physician or professional medical practice affiliated with an abortion clinic and operating concurrently with – and in the same physical, geographic location or footprint as – an abortion clinic,” according to the governor’s office.
The executive order notes that there are “a variety” of places women can access healthcare that doesn’t include abortion.
“The State of South Carolina has a strong culture and longstanding tradition of protecting the life and liberty of the unborn,” the order says. It asks that South Carolina Medicaid petition the federal government for permission to take abortion facilities out of its provider network, which would further defund abortion entites.
2012 photo Fibonacci Blue
Even though Medicaid can’t technically fund abortions in most states, taxpayer funding from it can go to other “services” at abortion facilities, enabling them to stay in business.
“Abortion providers often focus primarily on abortion-related services and procedures,” the order acknowledges.
“There are a variety of agencies, clinics, and medical entities in South Carolina that receive taxpayer funding to offer important women’s health and family planning services without performing abortions,” said McMaster. “Taxpayer dollars must not directly or indirectly subsidize abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.”
The South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Health and Environmental Control will publicly list all qualified non-abortion women’s health and family planning providers operating within a twenty-five mile radius of any abortion facility excluded from the state’s Medicaid provider network.
The Associated Press called McMaster “one of Donald Trump’s earliest backers.”
Planned Parenthood received “about $300,000 in combined state and federal Medicaid funding for non-abortion services” in South Carolina between 2010 and 2015.
In April 2017, President Trump signed a law allowing states to defund Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood is America’s largest abortion business. It commits over 300,000 abortions annually and has been involved in a number of high-profile scandals, including the sale of aborted baby parts, covering up child sex abuse, and accepting racist donations.
photo/Pro-Life Action League
