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.
