

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH – August 16, 2015 (Gephardt Daily) – Karrie Galloway, Executive Director of the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah is blasting Republican Governor Gary Herbert, characterizing his decision to block funding for the women’s healthcare organization as a cynical political ploy, potentially impacting the well-being of tens of thousands of women across the state.

Galloway made the comments Saturday, in an exclusive video interview with Bill Gephardt, just 24 hours after Governor Herbert’s executive order forbidding state agencies from disbursing federal tax dollars to Planned Parenthood. Funding for STD education and prevention were the only exception to the funding blockade.

Governor Herbert released a statement Friday, saying he found recent “allegations against Planned Parenthood deeply troubling.” Those allegations stem from recent videos produced by the anti-abortion group, Center for Medical Progress. The group claims the video are proof Planned Parenthood breaks the law by selling fetal tissue to medical researchers.

Planned Parenthood says there is nothing illegal about the research programs and their organization only accepts payments for the cost of the tissue harvesting. They say the mother’s consent is also required before the tissues can be sold for research.

“It’s politics, Bill. It’s not healthcare. It’s all about Planned Parenthood and the fact that we have made the woman’s lady parts a political football,” Galloway said. “I don’t find medical research disturbing. I don’t find finding a cure for Alzheimer’s, working on M.S., or on immunization, disturbing.”

Utah, now joins Arkansas, Alabama and Louisiana in blocking federal dollars earmarked for Planned Parenthood. The federal government says those moves may be illegal.

On Friday, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson said Planned Parenthood “does not represent the values of the people of our state and Arkansas is better served by terminating any and all existing contracts with them.”

To see the exclusive Gephardt Daily interview with Utah’s Planned Parenthood’s CEO Karrie Galloway, click on the video above.