By Scott Tibbs, July 9, 2001
To the Editor:
On June 20, the Bloomington City Council voted to give taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood, but nary a word about the controversy has been printed in the IDS. The story made the front page of the Bloomington Herald-Times, and a press release from IU Students for Life was both faxed and hand-delivered to the IDS office. It's disappointing that the IDS chose not to cover the controversy, especially since a student group was involved.
The subsidy itself was a bad idea. While testing people for anemia sounds good on paper, I do not believe the money should have went to an organization that ends human life every Thursday morning here in Bloomington. Many Bloomingtonians have deep moral and/or faith-based objections to abortion and should not be forced to subsidize abortionists through their taxes, even if the subsidy does not go directly to Planned Parenthood's abortion services. While it is true that Planned Parenthood does more than the abortion procedure, the abortion issue is so controversial that city government should stay out of the debate entirely.
In addition, Planned Parenthood is a political group that frequently lobbies the state legislature on issues. Out of respect for the wide diversity of political beliefs in our country, government should not be giving money to political organizations, whether that organization is Planned Parenthood, the National Rifle Association, or the Sierra Club.
It would have been very easy for the eight City Council members who voted for the subsidy to take an opposite position while still supporting legal access to abortion. Unfortunately, they did not take a truly pro-choice position by voting "no".
I hope that city government will take the concerns raised at the meeting into consideration the next time they are asked to give taxpayer dollars to an organization that ends life.
