Brownback correct about Kansas support to defund PP

Editorial board members of the Kansas McClatchy newspapers that have fought hard to advance Planned Parenthood interests are furious that the upcoming budget reconciliation indicates the abortion giant will lose state funding this year.

3 months ago, the Governor’s proposed budget was introduced, including the rerouting of Title X federal tax-funded family planning dollars to state clinics that provide family medical services. It reflected the Huelskamp/ Kinzer budget instruction which had been line-item vetoed by abortion-supporter, Gov. Mark Parkinson in 2009 and 2010.

What the Kansas City and Wichita pro-abortion editorialists decried as ‘promoting a lie‘ or ‘pure politics’ was the official comment from the governor’s spokesperson that “Gov. Brownback, along with the overwhelming majority of Kansans, opposes taxpayer subsidy of abortions.”

But it is true!   While not directly permitted to cover abortions, Title X funds are underwriting part of Planned Parenthood’s overhead and expenses, and at least part of the salary of any abortionist doing Title X services. As former Texas Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson

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Kansas voters challenge state Supreme Court process

KS Supreme Court/ standing: Lee A. Johnson, Carol A. Beier, Eric S. Rosen, Dan Biles; seated: Lawton R. Nuss, Robert E. Davis, Marla J. Luckert

The James Madison Law Center filed suit Thursday in federal court on behalf of Kansans who oppose the current system of nominating justices for the Kansas Supreme Court as unconstitutionally denying ordinary voters an equal voice.

Kansas attorneys have the most unrestricted power of any state in the union to hand-select state Supreme Court justices.  The retirement of Chief Justice Robert Davis preceding his Aug. 4 death,

leaves lame duck Democrat Gov. Mark Parkinson an opportunity to add another liberal member to this Sebelius-majority Court, which has stalled prosecution against Planned Parenthood since May 2009.

Files obtained after the Court ruled in the 2005 abortion files case, led to the filing of 107 criminal charges against the Planned Parenthood in Overland Park.  In that ruling, Justice Davis–along with then-Chief Justice Kay McFarland– complained about Justice Carol Beier’s prejudicial rant against AG Phill Kline.

Thursday’s lawsuit seeks a federal restraining order to prevent a nominating commission from filling the Davis vacancy, and is asking a federal judge to prohibit the nominating committee from being involved in the process. UPDATE, Fri. Sept.10: Judge Monti Belot heard arguments and promised a ruling next week.

The nine-member nominating commission

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Kansas needs Senate confirmation of state justices

Kansas has the most elitist State Supreme Court justice selection process (map by KansasWatchdog)

Elections truly have consequences, but Kansas attorneys have the most unrestricted power of any state in the union to hand-select state Supreme Court justices. (see details and comparisons to other states at Kansas Watchdog)

The Kansas Supreme Court is composed of 7 justices: 2 appointed by Gov. Bill Graves, 4 by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, and, as of this week, in the closing months of his term, abortion-supporting Gov. Mark Parkinson will pick a replacement for recently deceased Chief Justice Robert Davis (an appointee of pro-life Gov. Joan Finney).

Theoretically, these justices pledge to be neutral and uphold the state Constitution.  But consider the actual actions of a Sebelius-majority Court:

• the Court’s repeated pro-abortion-industry interventions,
  
• Justice Beier’s rant and insistence on sanctions against AG Phill Kline (decried by Davis and then-chief Justice MacFarland) in the 2005 Alpha “clinic files” decision,  and
  
• the current 15-month delay on the Planned Parenthood criminal case.

KFL has been supportive of changing the way

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Planned Parenthood accounting offbase, ex-director to speak

Abby Johnson quit PP

The selection of Abby Johnson, former clinic director for Planned Parenthood, to speak at Kansans for Life’s July 14 Kansas City regional breakfast couldn’t be more timely.

This week, Planned Parenthood has not explained their national accounting discrepancy of $1.6 billion dollars.  A recent report from the Government Accountability Office revealed Planned Parenthood spent $657 million in federal funds between 2002 and 2008, while another report showed they took in more than $2 billion in grants and programs during that time.

Scandals don’t seem to deter Planned Parenthood supporters. The nation’s largest  abortion business has failed to explain over 2 years of regularly revealed incidents of medical misinformation and illegal counseling in various states’ clinics.  Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson has twice strongly funded Planned Parenthood, despite the unresolved 107 criminal charges awaiting PP’s Overland Park facility.

In 2009 and 2010, Parkinson vetoed the same Huelskamp/ Kinzer budget provision that would have bumped Planned Parenthood from consuming

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Planned Parenthood gets funds from KS Gov, loses local deal

Gov. Mark Parkinson’s predictable veto of the Huelskamp/Kinzer proviso, secures an estimated $375,000 in federal Title X money for Planned Parenthood clinics in Wichita and Hays.

Minutes away from those two locations, Kansas public health clinics that qualify for those tax-payer funds –and also offer comprehensive health services to low income people of all ages–are struggling to keep their doors open. (Read about Kansas Title X clinics in KFL press release here.)

This is the second year that the governor vetoed this prioritization of Title X funds by claiming the law prohibited Kansas from prioritizing “safety net” clinics and cutting off funds Planned Parenthood. However, the Kansas health department admitted no federal law prevents it.

Parkinson, like President Obama, is indebted to abortion

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Planned Parenthood makes out like a bandit in Kansas

Planned Parenthood in Wichita, and its sister site in Hays, are slated for $375,000 from Title X, the tax-funded, federal family planning program.

But Planned Parenthood isn’t needed!  Wichitans could walk a few blocks from PP’s location to the county health department and get the same low cost, or free, Title X services.  (Hays is located 30 min. from local health services in either direction.)

With an 11% cut this year, Wichita’s health department gets half the amount of Planned Parenthood.  In fact, just those 2 private PP clinics eat up 13% of the Kansas Title X  monies.  (See state data obtained by KFL.)

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Kansas should get Planned Parenthood’s federal funding

In the Kansas state annual budget, many projects and services are funded.   Some are noble; some are awful, (Corrected w/headline 5/13) like helping Planned Parenthood stay on the federal trough.

A provision to both this year’s and last year’s state budget (on p. 1755 of this link) was added by Sen. Tim Huelskamp (R-Fowler) and Rep. Lance Kinzer (R-Olathe).  Without naming Planned Parenthood, it directly affects them as they have been getting this federal money every year.

Cutting through the formal language, the Huelskamp/Kinzer provision instructs that family planning services financed in any way under “Title X” federal rules, must be contracted primarily with public health clinics and secondarily with qualified non-public hospitals or health centers that provide comprehensive health care.

In plain language, Kansas wants to support the local health clinics that see patients of all ages and provide a wide range of services including immunizations, screenings, physicals, and referrals. 

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Will KS Gov steal Pregnancy fund again for PP?

Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson is  reportedly anxious to sign the new state budget, passed Tuesday.   But since the budget contains two provisions he vetoed last year (support for pregnancy-help centers
and defunding of Planned Parenthood) pro-lifers are anxious.

The Huelskamp/Kinzer amendment redirects family planning tax monies to local health clinics and hospitals instead of Planned Parenthood, while the Stan Clark Fund provides matching grants to non-profits that support mothers in crisis.

Sen. Tim Huelskamp (R-Fowler) and Rep. Lance Kinzer (R-Olathe) offered the   motions to defund Planned Parenthood (PP)and Rep. Peggy Mast (R-Emporia) and Sen. Carolyn McGinn (R-Sedgwick) were key to securing $200 thousand dollars grant money for the Stan Clark Fund.

Last year, Parkinson outraged pro-lifers when he UPDATE not only restored, but raised (by 22%) their Title X funding to $314 thousand dollars!

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