The following letter to the editor was published on April 21, 2015, in the Pioneer Press.
A recent letter ("Planned Parenthood tax dollars," April 12) claims that "abortion is not paid for by taxpayers," citing the Hyde Amendment. But that policy only applies at the federal level.
In Minnesota, taxpayers funded 3,391 abortions in 2013 at a cost of $809,915, according to the Department of Human Services. These abortions are now 34.2 percent of all abortions in our state—that's an all-time high.
And Planned Parenthood, of course, is the biggest beneficiary. It billed taxpayers $295,216 in 2013 (a 16 percent increase over 2012) for 1,287 abortions (a 13 percent increase, following a 32 percent jump the previous year). The state's leading abortion provider is receiving more and more taxpayer dollars to perform more and more abortions.
Elective abortion is not health care. It is not a public good deserving of public support. A bill currently before the state Legislature, SF 683/HF 607, would end taxpayer funding of abortion. We should urge our legislators to pass it and Gov. Dayton to sign it into law.
