One of the primary duties of government is to protect life. For some reason, many on the left have interpreted this to mean only life outside of the womb. However, this position is based on an outdated understanding of human development. It’s now clear that life begins long before the child leaves the womb. Fortunately, many Republicans understand this and are pushing to expand the rights of the unborn.

Iowa is leading the fight against abortion. Their Governor, Terry Branstad (R), recently signed a bill defunding abortion. As a result, Planned Parenthood just closed several of their abortion-providing locations.

Earlier this year, Branstad signed House File 653 into law, effectively cutting off roughly $3 million in taxpayer funds to organizations that provide abortions. Thanks to him, Iowans are no longer forced to support feticide. Specifically, the legislation states, “Iowans support reducing the number of abortions performed in our state. Funds appropriated under this section shall not be used for abortions unless otherwise authorized.”

According to the legislation, in order to get public money, healthcare organizations must not provide abortions. Out of 12 Planned Parenthood locations in Iowa, only 4 of them offer pregnancy termination. Rather than abandon the practice, they decided to close the 4 locations. The other eight remain open because they don’t provide abortions.

By closing the clinics instead of discontinuing abortion procedures, they demonstrated to everyone that they truly don’t care about women. This is because instead of dropping one procedure so they can continue providing other health care services for women, they’re essentially stopping everything they do, making it more difficult for people to get the help they need.

But rather than speak honestly about the situation, they’re trying to blame conservatives for the fact that 14,000 women will “no longer have access to the provider of their choice.” On Twitter, the organization tweeted, “@TerryBranstad These closings are devastating. Over 14,000 patients who trust PP with their care will no longer have access to their provider of choice,” suggesting that this was his fault.

These closings are devastating. Over 14,000 patients who trust PP with their care will no longer have access to their provider of choice. — Planned Parenthood (@PPHeartland) May 18, 2017

However, the state has no problem providing federal money to healthcare facilities that don’t provide abortions. If they wanted to receive public money, they simply have to stop slaughtering the unborn. Unfortunately, many supporters of abortion don’t want to do this because they worry that people won’t be able to afford abortions and providers won’t be able to stay in business. Therefore, they think everyone else has an obligation to not only keep the baby killers in business but to also subsidize the murders. Obviously, this is absurd. People should not be forced to pay for other people’s immoral actions.

Iowa Right to Life, the state’s largest pro-life activist group, agrees with this notion and were huge supporters of Branstad’s decision. “The reallocation of our tax dollars, away from the abortion industry, and into the hands of true healthcare facilities will only empower more Iowa women,” explained Jenifer Bowen, a spokesperson for the organization.

Unsurprisingly, Planned Parenthood is using these closures as an excuse to garner sympathy. Just recently, they partnered with Joss Whedon, a well-known abortion advocate and opponent of Trump, to produce a video dramatizing the closures. They posted it on their website and offered a brief written explanation. “Planned Parenthood and the 2.5 million people our health centers serve every year could sure use a lot more superheroes right now,” claims the website. The statement continues, “so, Joss Whedon used his superpower: he made a powerful and chilling short film, UNLOCKED, about what people’s lives could look like without Planned Parenthood.”

To promote the video, they encouraged supporters to “watch, share, [and] slay,” referring to Whedon’s film, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. However, since vast numbers of people consider abortion to be the equivalent of “slaying” a baby, many were understandably outraged by the choice of words and based the organization for being so insensitive.

In response to the reasonable pushback, Whedon retaliated by releasing a statement attacking pro-life activists. “For so many, there’s an obvious tipping point between hope and despair. Planned Parenthood is a beacon of hope, and anyone trying to shut it down is committing an act of evil.” He claimed, adding, “it’s not just inhumane — it’s inhuman,” and concluded, “I just wanted to remind those of us with some humanity still stirring how much is at stake.” But what Whedon doesn’t seem to understand is that the truly “evil” and “inhuman” people are those in favor of slaughtering the most vulnerable in society.

The left must not be allowed to continue murdering babies. Republican lawmakers across the country should learn from Iowa and implement similar legislation. Doing so would save the lives of countless unborn children.