Brewer signs bill banning funds for Planned Parenthood

Money dropped from any facility performing abortions

Posted May 7, 2012

Amy Silverstein
Global Post

Gage Skidmore/FlickrGov. Jan Brewer

Gov. Jan Brewer signed a bill late Friday that would ban Planned Parenthood from receiving any state money.

Arizona already prohibits the use of public funds for abortions, the New York Daily News reported. But this new law goes a step further. It bars any facility where abortions are performed from receiving state money, even for non-abortion services, the Arizona Daily Star reported. Rep. Justin Olson, the sponsor of the bill, admitted that the bill was meant to target Planned Parenthood, the Star reported.

Planned Parenthood of Arizona said that as a result of the loss of funding, thousands of women in the state will now go without life-saving cancer screenings, birth control and basic health care, Reuters reported."We are most concerned about the women and men who could be forced to go without health care as a result of this bill," Bryan Howard, Planned Parenthood Arizona's president and CEO, said in a statement.

Fewer than 10 percent of women seek abortion services from Planned Parenthood, the Arizona Republic reported.

Texas recently passed a similar bill, only to end up in court. A federal judge has now barred the Texas law. But Brewer's spokesman said that she is not worried about ending up in court. "The governor is confident of the constitutionality of this law and believes it will be upheld," he told the Arizona Daily Star.

This article originally appeared on GlobalPost.