ST. PAUL, March 29, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Minnesota legislation prohibiting tax funding for abortion-providing “family planning” organizations has passed through a vote at the committee stage. Minnesota Health and Human Services Finance Committee approved the Taxpayers Protection Act (TPA) by a vote of 8-3. The bill would regulate funds awarded by the Minnesota Family Planning Special Projects grant program. Under the bill, Planned Parenthood or any other abortion supportive organization would not receive taxpayer funding from the state of Minnesota. Six states, Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and neighboring Wisconsin, have enacted laws similar to Minnesota’s legislation.
The bill’s prohibitions restrict state funding to any organization or affiliate that provides abortions or shares a similar name, facilities, or employees as an abortionist. It would prohibit funding of any group that publicly advocates for the legality of abortion or refers for abortions. It includes any group that considers abortion to be part of the “continuum of family planning services, reproductive health services, or both.”
NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota is lobbying heavily against the bill, calling it a “super gag rule” and saying that it would place “enormous restrictions” on abortion in the state of Minnesota.
Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life wrote of the bill in a media release, “The government doesn’t give money to tobacco companies to decrease smoking or to alcohol manufacturers to stop underage drinking. Neither should the state give your money to the abortion industry…”
CBS news coverage: https://www.kdlh.com/news/headlines/672951.html
Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life: https://www.mccl.org/