EAST TENNESSEE, April 11, 2018- Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers will soon be defunded in Tennessee thanks to conservative candidate for United States Congress Jimmy Matlock’s efforts on the state level.

“It’s a huge win for Tennessee taxpayers who believe in the sanctity of life,” said Matlock. “This has been a very emotional victory. Putting an end to abortion is one of the primary reasons I got involved in politics. The very idea that our money was being handed over to industry executives who have proudly killed millions of babies for profit, and there was supposedly nothing we could do about it, absolutely sickened me. After years of fighting the incredibly powerful abortion lobby, I’m proud to say that Tennessee taxpayer dollars will no longer be sent to clinics that provide elective abortions. Abortion isn’t healthcare. It’s infanticide, and Tennessee taxpayers will no longer be forced to fund it. Now it’s time to show Washington D.C. how we do things down here in Tennessee.” 

The legislation has an amendment that makes an exemption for hospitals performing medically necessary abortions when needed to save the life of the mother.

“I’m very grateful to President Trump’s administration for working closely with my office on this legislation,” said Matlock.

The legislation, now signed by Governor Bill Haslam, directs the state government to attain a waiver from the Trump administration that will strip abortion providers of taxpayer funding.

Matlock just received the first major endorsement in the race for United States Congress from the nation’s top conservative family values, religious liberty and pro-life group, Family Research Council Action PAC.

“I will stand for the sanctity of life, religious freedom, and family values in Washington and look forward to working to defund Planned Parenthood – the nation’s largest provider of abortions – both in Tennessee and in Washington,” said Matlock in response to the endorsement. “This is a clear sign of momentum in the new year as conservatives move toward our campaign.”

Haslam signs bill stripping TennCare funding from Planned Parenthood of Tennessee

timesfreepress.com-NASHVILLE — Republican Gov. Bill Haslam has quietly signed into law a controversial bill that seeks to strip all TennCare funding from Planned Parenthood of Tennessee.

"The governor ... deferred to the will of the legislature on this bill as amended, and after reviewing the bill in its final form decided to sign the bill into law," Haslam press secretary Jennifer Donnals said of the governor's action on Monday.

The new law, passed last month by the Republican-led General Assembly, requires the state to seek a waiver of federal Medicaid rules in order to let Tennessee eliminate all funds going to nonprofit groups providing medical services that include elective abortions. It's targeted at Planned Parenthood.

On Tuesday, Americans United for Life President and CEO Catherine Glenn Foster praised both Haslam and lawmakers for the new law, which the group says was based on its model legislation seeking to restrict funding for abortion providers nationwide.

"Based on AUL's Defunding the Abortion Industry and Advancing Women's Health Act, this legislation prioritizes the funding of comprehensive healthcare facilities that can help women address a broad array of health issues that Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers are not equipped to handle," she said in a statement.

When the bill passed, Planned Parenthood denounced it as a "disappointingly bold move by our state legislature to disregard patients' rights, further discriminate against women, people of color, and the poor, and push the extremist agenda set forth by the Trump-Pence administration."

Planned Parenthood says none of the money it gets from Medicaid, operated under the TennCare umbrella in Tennessee, goes toward abortion services. Instead, the group says, it goes toward health care services for women, including prenatal care, cervical cancer screenings, sexually transmitted disease screening and treatment, hormone replacement therapy and pap tests.

Rep. Jimmy Matlock, R-Lenoir City, who carried the bill, charged during debate that nearly $1 million has been paid to abortion clinics here through TennCare in the past six years.

While the money doesn't go directly toward providing abortions, Matlock acknowledged, he argued it does go to clinics that provide that service and thus "is a form of supporting abortions."

A recent national report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that a total of $40,000 in indirect funding went to Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee in fiscal years 2013, 2014 and 2015 combined. All of that was in 2014.

Matlock and other abortion opponents say any funding should go to the state's 95 county health departments and other nonprofit providers, which can provide non-abortion related health services.

Americans United for Life says at least 24 states have moved to limit the ability of abortion facilities to the use of family planning funds in some manner.