The Commercial Appeal
reported Wednesday morning that the Shelby County Public Health
Department will no longer be contracting with Planned Parenthood's
Memphis affiliate, a decision which effectively ends a decades long
practice in which the Tennessee Department of Health automatically
awarded federal Title X family planning funds to Planned Parenthood's
abortion facilities. Tennessee Right to Life has led the public fight
since 2006 to defund the nation's foremost abortion provider by
directing the funds to ethical health care providers instead.
Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell stated that the family planning contract will awarded to Christ Community Health Services,
a non-profit health service provider which does not perform or refer
for abortion. Luttrell said that a six-person team of local health
care professionals and members of his administration ranked three
proposals and selected Christ Community. The contract must now be
approved by the Shelby County Commission, likely within the next several
weeks.
The action in Memphis follows similar developments last June when the Nashville Public Health Department
announced that it would accept all available Title X family planning
funds previously directed to Planned Parenthood of Middle and East
Tennessee. As a result, no 2011-12 Title X funds were awarded to the
Nashville abortion facility either. At stake were grants totaling
$1,062,500.00 which would otherwise have been directed to Planned
Parenthood.
Both
decisions to re-direct funds away from Planned Parenthood affiliates
followed intense public outcry when the Tennessee Legislature failed to
strip funding for the abortion behemoth. A pro-life amendment to the
state budget by Senator Stacey Campfield
(R-Knoxville) was secretly undone when still publicly unidentified
legislators inserted their own amendment into the state budget restoring
the funding for Planned Parenthood. Governor Haslam acted
administratively to identify alternative means of providing the services
while fulfilling his campaign commitment to prevent funds from being directed to Planned Parenthood.
Tennessee
Right to Life heralded today's announcement. "Pro-life Tennesseans
have proven again what can be positively accomplished for the protection
of life when we work together," said Brian Harris, the group's
president. "Pro-life voters have spoken in a consistent manner over the
course of years and their elected officials---councilmen, commissioners,
legislators, mayors, congressmen and our Governor---they have all
joined the long effort to protect life and Tennessee's taxpayers," said
Harris."Tennessee Right to Life thanks its members and these pro-life
public officials for this long-awaited announcement today."
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