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AUGUSTA, Maine, October 28, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – The ten-member Maine Legislative Council halted the advance of a bill defunding Planned Parenthood in a party-line deadlock Thursday. With five Republican votes for advancing the bill to the 2016 legislative session, and five Democrat votes against, the bill is dead in the water for now.

The bill to defund Planned Parenthood was introduced after undercover videos from the Center for Medical Progress revealed that the abortion giant peddles aborted babies' body parts.

State Representative Ellie Espling (R-New Gloucester) wrote a scathing column, “Maine People Owe Planned Parenthood Nothing,” in the Morning Sentinel Kennebec Journal. The column is subtitled “Democrats seem to want to regulate every other organization, but they say any oversight of Planned Parenthood is off limits.”

Rep. Espling, the assistant Republican leader in the state House, commented, “It's getting tiresome to watch Maine Democrats tie themselves in knots trying to prevent any type of oversight of Planned Parenthood.” She noted that the Democrats are “now fighting tooth and nail to keep an outpatient surgical facility, which receives hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds, from having any regulation, oversight or accountability at all.”

Sign the petition to defund Planned Parenthood here!

Rep. Espling took aim at Planned Parenthood, too, accusing Maine's largest abortion business of “a campaign of misinformation.” Espling backed up her accusation with the fact that Planned Parenthood's claims of citizen agreement and financial support without oversight come from Planned Parenthood's own commissioned, written, conducted, and financed poll. Espling commented, “I'm surprised it couldn't get more than 70 percent, considering it rigged the game.”

The Maine legislator proposed a bill, the Disposition of Fetal Tissue from Abortions Act, that would ensure that Planned Parenthood does not profit from the sale of aborted babies in Maine. Espling explained that every time an abortion is committed, a report is made with the facility and the county recording how far along the baby was. Espling's bill would add the name and address of whoever takes custody of the aborted remains, patient consent for use of her baby, and the amount of money paid in exchange for the aborted child.

“I don't think that is asking too much when we consider what has come to light over the past few months,” Rep. Espling wrote. 

But Democrats did not allow Espling's bill to even be considered in next year's legislative agenda.

“This should come as no surprise,” Espling railed. “Democrats have protected the 'right' of Planned Parenthood to operate with taxpayer funds, in a cavalier manner and without a shred of accountability to taxpayers[.] … In the eyes of the Democrats, Planned Parenthood is untouchable.”

Rep. Espling's column also noted Rep. Deb Sanderson (R-Chelsea)'s proposed bill, which sought to bring the state's surgical abortion businesses up to the same standard of licensing as every other outpatient surgical facility. However, “Democrats quickly killed the bill.”

Other legislation Espling mentioned would fund women's health facilities other than Planned Parenthood with taxpayer dollars. “Nearly 200 locations in Maine provide far more comprehensive women's health care than Planned Parenthood,” Espling explained, “so why are Democrats so quick to defend it even amidst the most vile of wrongdoings?”

The Republican leader answered her own question: “Perhaps it's because Planned Parenthood is a very generous contributor to Democratic candidates running for the Maine Legislature, giving close to $1 million to help them get elected in 2014 alone.” She concluded that Maine legislators should not “turn a blind eye” to Planned Parenthood's trafficking in baby organs, and should not defend the abortion business “just to make sure those precious campaign contributions keep rolling in.”

The bill to defund Planned Parenthood, as well as Espling's bill, could be reconsidered in November, when Espling and other Republicans whose bills failed in Council can appeal those decisions.

As LifeSiteNews previously reported, Maine taxpayers were illegally charged $184,000 by the abortion industry, and are suing the state to keep from paying the bill.