Thursday, June 16, 2011

UPDATE: North Carolina Senate overrides governor’s veto, defunds Planned Parenthood

by Kathleen Gilbert

RALEIGH, June 15, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Following a midnight veto override by their House counterparts, North Carolina state senators on Wednesday afternoon echoed the vote and secured the survival of a budget bill gutting Planned Parenthood funding.

The vote makes North Carolina the third U.S. state to pass a budget cutting off funding for America’s largest abortion provider this year, behind Kansas and Indiana.

North Carolina Democrat Governor Bev Purdue had vetoed the legislation sent to her earlier this month by the General Assembly, which is dominated by Republicans.

“We think we’ve done something historic on several different levels,” said House Speaker Thom Tillis after the vote to override her veto.

In the wake of the override vote Wednesday morning, Planned Parenthood immediately asked supporters for donations and condemned the vote as opposing “lifesaving cancer screenings and birth control.”

“The continued misleading attacks on Planned Parenthood expose a cynical and coldhearted willingness to further a divisive political agenda even if it will deny women access to lifesaving preventive healthcare,” said Paige Johnson, Vice-President of Public Policy with Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina, in a press release.

Johnson also said her organization is “considering all options” to defend itself, including a lawsuit.

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