Planned Parenthood ordered to repay state $668,000

Planned Parenthood ordered to repay state $668,000

By Staff

June 14, 2005

JEFFERSON CITY – Pro-life Missourians, including Gov. Matt Blunt, were celebrating a May 25 ruling in Cole County Circuit Court where two Planned Parenthood branches were ordered to repay the state $668,850 in family planning grants, upholding a prohibition on state money going to the affiliates of abortion providers, as reported by The Associated Press.

 The ruling was made public June 7 by the Missouri Catholic Conference, prompting the governor to comment favorably on it.

Blunt, who attends Second Baptist Church, Springfield, said it was “very encouraging to see a court embracing the culture of life that Missourians hold dear.”

Grants in the 2000 and 2003 fiscal years to Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri and Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region are in question, the Associated Press reported.

Ray County Circuit Judge Werner Moentmann, who was assigned to the Cole County case, ruled that Planned Parenthood’s mid-Missouri branch must repay the state $376,800 and the St. Louis branch $292,050, with 9 percent annual interest applied to each. Officials from both branches said they would appeal.

“Planned Parenthood is obsessed with using public funding to forward their anti-life agenda,” said Rodney Albert, chairman, Christian Life Commission of the Missouri Baptist Convention. “They’ve gotten caught with this illegal process and have been forced to pay the money back. We applaud the judge’s decision and look forward to Planned Parenthood obeying the law.”