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McAuliffe vetoes bill to defund Planned Parenthood

Rachel Beatrice | Capital News Service

RICHMOND – Gov. Terry McAuliffe March 29 vetoed pro-life
legislation that would have cut off state funding to Planned
Parenthood’s six Virginia health centers, which provide care
to more than 22,000 men and women each year.

McAuliffe rejected House Bill 1090, a measure supported by
Republicans to prohibit the Virginia Department of Health
from funding groups that provide “non-federally qualified”
abortions.

“This bill, aimed at Planned Parenthood, would harm tens of
thousands of Virginians who rely on the health care services
and programs provided by Planned Parenthood health centers by
denying them access to affordable care,” the Democratic
governor said in his veto message.

At the March 29 ceremony at Planned Parenthood, whose
affiliates abort more children than any other abortion
business in the country, McAuliffe said he was “proud” to
“smack down” the legislation.

“The Virginia Catholic Conference upholds the timeless truth
that every human being, born and unborn, has an equal right
to life,” said VCC Director Jeff Caruso. “The conference
finds Gov. McAuliffe’s ‘pride’ in protecting an organization
that destroys life and harms many women and their families
deeply offensive and outrageous. We will continue to fight
for the day when Virginia law protects all human life, at
every stage of development, from conception until natural
death.”

Caruso said the conference, which represents the public
policy interests of Virginia’s Catholic bishops and their
dioceses, will continue to monitor other crucial legislation
awaiting the governor’s action.

Sponsored by Del. Ben Cline, R-Amherst, HB1090 would have
prohibited the state from awarding contracts or grants to
“any entity that performs abortions that are not federally
qualified abortions or maintains or operates a facility where
non-federally qualified abortions are performed.”

The legislation would have ended state funding for
organizations that provide abortions except in cases of rape,
incest or fetal deformities. The bill would not have applied
to licensed hospitals.

Planned Parenthood’s clinics provide a range of services,
including family planning counseling, contraception, cancer
screenings and testing for sexually transmitted diseases, as
well as abortions. McAuliffe noted that the state contracts
with Planned Parenthood to provide STD testing. The state
does not provide any funding for non-federally qualified
abortions.

Women’s rights activists applauded McAuliffe’s veto of HB
1090.

“Thank you, Gov. McAuliffe, for standing up for Virginia
women,” said Progress Virginia executive director Anna
Scholl. “These politically motivated attacks on women’s
health must stop. Virginians should be terrified that the
governor’s veto pen is the only thing standing between us and
extreme attacks on women’s health care access.”

Since 2011, Scholl said, Virginia legislators have proposed
more than 75 restrictions on women’s health. “Without a brick
wall like Gov. McAuliffe to veto these outrageous proposals,
Virginia could be a very different place.”

NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia and other organizations delivered
petitions signed by more than 4,400 people urging McAuliffe
to veto HB1090.

HB 1090 was approved along party lines on a 64-35 vote in the
House of Delegates and a 21-19 vote in the Senate.

In a statement, Cline said, “I am disappointed that Gov.
McAuliffe chose to veto this important legislation that would
redirect taxpayer dollars toward more comprehensive providers
of health care services for women. The governor is clearly
listening to his friends in the abortion lobby, rather than
ensuring that women have access to quality care.”

The Family Foundation of Virginia, which advocates applying a
“biblical worldview and founding principles to culture and
public policy,” also criticized McAuliffe’s veto.

“We now know how much money it costs to purchase a veto from
Terry McAuliffe – right around $2 million in campaign
contributions,” Victoria Cobb, the foundation’s president,
said in a news release. “If there’s one issue on which Gov.
McAuliffe has been ideologically rigid, it is his unwavering
support and protection of the $1 billion abortion industry.”

In his veto message, McAuliffe said HB 1090 would have
violated federal law. “Similar laws enacted in North Carolina
and Texas were struck down by federal courts for this exact
reason,” the governor said.

The General Assembly reconvenes April 20 to consider
overriding the governor’s vetoes. That would require a
two-thirds majority vote in both the House and Senate. The
Democrats have enough votes to prevent the assembly from
overriding McAuliffe’s veto of HB 1090.

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