In August, Gov. Robert Bentley sent a letter to Planned Parenthood Southeast terminating its contract with the Alabama Medicaid Agency. He cited controversial secretly recorded videos of Planned Parenthood officials talking about harvesting organs from aborted fetuses.
A settlement between the governor and Planned Parenthood was announced this week. The governor’s office will pay $51,000 for Planned Parenthood’s legal fees — about nine times what the state has paid the organization through Medicaid in the past two years.
The Alabama Medicaid Agency paid $5,600 to Planned Parenthood’s two Alabama clinics over the last two years, according to U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson’s order. The Services covered under the state’s provider agreement include gynecological exams, pregnancy counseling and screenings for breast and cervical cancer.
The payments did not include abortion services.
Bentley’s mistake cost tax-paying Alabamians approximately $45,400.
“The fact that Planned Parenthood Southeast doesn’t participate in tissue donation programs in Alabama underscores that this investigation is all about political grandstanding, not facts,” said Susan Watson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Alabama, in a statement.
We agree with Watson.
Bentley’s frivolous decision was based entirely on emotion, not fact. The videos he cited were proven to be heavily doctored. One of the editors revealed he worked on the video for at least 11 months in a Facebook status.
Planned Parenthood was receiving reimbursement for fetal tissue donations, a perfectly legal practice. The organization announced in October that it would no longer accept money for donations. This should have effectively ended the discussion.
Especially since Planned Parenthood Southeast does not, and never has, participated in fetal tissue donation programs.
Yet, Bentley continued his crusade to defund Planned Parenthood for months.
This impulsive, irrational and fact-free mindset is disturbing and should have no place in politics.
The issue here is not about abortion. It’s about whether Alabamians can trust their governor to make responsible decisions and to use their money wisely.
In this case, they couldn’t.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
