

FOR PLANNED PARENTHOOD: Karen Swinton, an educator in sex ed programs targeted by anti-abortion Republicans, testifies in House committee this morning.

The Senate bill aimed at cutting off money to Planned Parenthood failed in a House committee this morning on a roll call vote. Needing 11 votes, the bill got 9.


The bill would have cut off money to organizations that provide abortions — and to others who have relationships with abortion providers.

The practical effect was to cut off roughly $90,000 Planned Parenthood has received to provide sex education aimed at pregnancy prevention and fighting HIV and sexually transmitted diseases. The money is spent primarily in Little Rock. None is spent on abortion.


The usual anti-abortion legislators supported the bill in the face of impassioned testimony from an educator about the benefits of the program. Rep. Kim Hammer wanted to know how she could claim a benefit from the work when indicators such as pregnancy, abortion and disease weren’t declining. Duh. The state doesn’t have comprehensive statewide sex education programs; this program operates only in a limited place. Anti-abortion legislators, such as Andy Mayberry, worked over the Planned Parenthood representative, Karen Swinton, over ads that have targeted opponents of Planned Parenthood. Not that anti-abortion legislators have ever used the issue politically, of course.

Bettina Brownstein, an attorney for the ACLU, told the committee that the bill was clearly a 1st Amendment violation by preventing help for other agencies that have any contact with Planned Parenthood. A rape crisis center that referred someone to Planned Parenthood for AIDS testing would be prevented from receiving public money. It’s an illegal boycott and a violation of equal protection, she said. She said legislative comments during debate have made clear that the bill is about nothing but punishing Planned Parenthood for its support of abortion, which remains legal in the U.S.


If free speech had as much protection as guns in Arkansas, this bill never would have been introduced.

Rep. David Meeks argued for the bill by saying Planned Parenthood had a profit nationally, so it can afford to lose the state funding. He suggested the educator, Swinton, whom he complimented for her enthusiasm, could leave Planned Parenthood to provide the program with another agency.

Planned Parenthood’s news release: