Lawmaker seeks to defund Planned Parenthood for 'cutting children into small pieces'
A Republican lawmaker who accuses Planned Parenthood of practicing eugenics and “cutting children into small pieces” is sponsoring legislation to prohibit the state from funding any health care organization that performs abortions.
“It’s not aimed specifically at Planned Parenthood,” Rep. Warren Groen said in an interview with Foster’s, “but if you are going to shoot at gorillas, you’re probably going to hit the 800-pound one.”
Current state law prohibits the use of public funds for abortion services except in cases of rape, incest, or maternal risk. Groen told Foster’s his bill would ban all state funding for organizations that perform abortions, refer patients for the procedure or "advocate” for abortions.
In a statement, Planned Parenthood’s Jennifer Frizzell said the bill would limit access to health care for thousands of men and women. “While Representative Groen has made clear that his intention is to defund Planned Parenthood,” she said, “the true impact of this bill will be felt by the nearly 16,000 patients each year who rely on our preventive health care — services like cancer screenings, breast exams and access to birth control.”
Groen sponsored similar legislation in 2011. During a committee hearing on that bill, the Concord Monitor reported Groen lashed out at Planned Parenthood. “I’m amazed the only way we can find to deliver social services is by spending money on an organization whose specialty is cutting children into small pieces,” he said.
The Rochester Republican accused the organization of locating clinics in minority areas specifically to abort black babies. “He suggested that the group was adopting a theory of eugenics that he attributed to Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger to ‘try to get those human weeds out of the human garden,’ ” wrote Shira Schoenberg.
In a Foster’s op-ed, Groen continued the attack. “Perhaps some historical context is in order here,” he wrote. The U.S. Supreme Court “found a right to privacy that allows women to hire someone to cut their babies out of their womb. Since 1973 more than 40 million babies have been aborted in the U.S.,” he continued. “That is social engineering on a grand scale, a scale so large even Hitler couldn’t compete. We are now approaching numbers that Mao and Stalin would be proud of.”
In 2012, House Bill 228, “an act prohibiting the use of public funds for abortion services,” was approved in a 207-147 vote by the Republican-dominated House but fell short in the Senate.
Groen continued his assault on abortion rights last year in the debate over legislation to provide a 25-foot buffer zone for abortion clinics. AP reported Groen offered up a facetious amendment that would have provided the same protection to slaughterhouses. Any organization “that butchers animals deserves the same rights as organizations that butcher babies,” he said.
Update (01/30/2015): corrected broken link