INDIANAPOLIS, May 2, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Planned Parenthood is preparing to fight in court for its government funding in Indiana, should Governor Mitch Daniels follow through on his promise to sign a bill defunding the abortion giant, the first of its kind in the country to become law.
Gov. Daniels is expected to sign the legislation this week.
Planned Parenthood of Indiana (PPIN) has called the defunding bill an “assault against women.”
“We’re planning to file an injunction in court as soon as the governor signs it,” Margaret Lawrence Banning, vice president of Planned Parenthood’s public policy, told local media.
Planned Parenthood’s national headquarters also blasted the Indiana legislature, challenging Daniels, “who called for a truce on social issues, to stay true to his word.”
But Daniels, like the bill’s supporters in the legislature, said that Planned Parenthood need only give up their stake in the abortion business to receive public funding.
“It’s up to them,” said the governor. “The legislature decided to say that any organization, and they’re not the only one, just the biggest one that’s involved in abortions, should not be supported with taxpayer dollars and that’s a principle that apparently a huge majority of Hoosiers agree with.”
In addition to withholding public funds from groups that perform abortion, HB 2010 also limits abortions to before 20 weeks gestation, following the lead of several other states that have passed legislation against abortions performed on unborn children old enough to feel pain.