Bobby Jindal Cuts Off Medicaid Funding to Planned Parenthoods In Louisiana

Republican presidential candidate, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal talks to the media following a visit to a senior center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Wednesday, July 1, 2015. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
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Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) announced he had ended the state’s Medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood in response to an anti-abortion “sting” video campaign against the reproductive health service.

“In recent weeks, it has been shocking to see reports of the alleged activities taking place at Planned Parenthood facilities across the country. Planned Parenthood does not represent the values of the people of Louisiana and shows a fundamental disrespect for human life,” Jindal said in a statement. “It has become clear that this is not an organization that is worthy of receiving public assistance from the state.”

The move comes despite the fact that the two Planned Parenthood clinics in Louisiana do not provide abortion, which Planned Parenthood confirmed to the state’s Department of Health and Hospitals as part of the state’s ongoing investigation into claims that the organization is profiting off of aborted fetal tissue donations. A third clinic being built in New Orleans plans to offer abortion, but will not participate in the tissue donation programs, a Planned Parenthood executive told the state.

Jindal’s termination of Medicaid funding also comes as the U.S. Senate weighs its own measure to cease federal funding to Planned Parenthood over the videos that an anti-abortion group going by Center for Medical Progress began releasing last month. The standalone Senate measure is unlikely to overcome a Democratic filibuster expected Monday evening, but conservatives are already pushing that it be attached to a larger, must-pass spending bill lawmakers will consider when they return from the August recess.

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