Bill Aims To Ban State Money To Planned Parenthood

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant has signed a bill to ban Medicaid from spending money with any facility that performs elective abortions.

It’s aimed at blocking state tax dollars from Planned Parenthood.

The organization’s only Mississippi clinic doesn’t do abortions but refers patients to other places abortion is available.

Records show Medicaid has spent $439 with Planned Parenthood since the budget year that started in July 2013. The organization’s clinic in Hattiesburg offers pap smears, birth control and other health services.

Republican Bryant signed Senate Bill 2238 Tuesday, and it becomes law July 1.

It says Medicaid cannot spend money with any facility that provides elective abortions, or with any entity affiliated with an abortion provider.

Mississippi law already prohibited the use of tax dollars to pay for most abortions.