Tennessee County under Fire for Refusing to Approve Grant Money for Planned Parenthood
- Updated Feb 03, 2017
A Tennessee county is under fire for refusing to issue grant money to a Planned Parenthood clinic.
According to LifeNews.com, Tennessee’s Shelby County commissioners refused to approve $115,000 in grant money to Planned Parenthood. The funds would reportedly go to the organization to be used for condom distribution in order to prevent the spread of HIV and STD’s.
“The commission delayed a vote on a $115,000 grant last year after commissioner David Reaves was incorrectly listed as a sponsor of the measure. Reaves is opposed to the funding,” according to a report from the Memphis Daily News.
Many taxpayers agree with the County Commissioners and would rather their tax money did not go to an organization that provides abortion. LifeNews.com notes that Planned Parenthood performs about 320,000 abortions a year, which is about one-third of all abortions in the U.S.
Melissa Morrison, Tennessee Health Department HIV Director, criticized the commissioners for refusing to approve the grant money.
“Not only does this failure to complete the execution of a contract violate your contractual obligations to TDH (Tennessee Department of Health), we have reason to believe it may be motivated by matters unrelated to the ability of the proposed subgrantee to meet its obligations under the subgrant,” Morrison stated.
Brian Harris of Tennessee Right to Life noted that the grant money could be given to other organizations which provide protection against HIV and STD’s, instead of the controversial Planned Parenthood.
Photo courtesy: flickr.com
Publication date: February 3, 2017
