Amid the politically charged debate over whether public funding for Planned Parenthood should be cut off, state Auditor Dave Yost ran a check on the non-profit organization’s use of public money on abortions.
Over the last two months, at Yost’s request, employees in the Ohio Department of Medicaid have gathered data on the services Planned Parenthood has provided to Ohio Medicaid patients. No irregularities were found.
Federal law generally prohibits use of public Medicaid money on abortions. Yet it can happen in limited circumstances — cases involving rape, incest or a medical issue that threatens the life of the mother — so long as the medical provider can certify the case meets the specific exceptions under the law.
Yost said the research turned up five cases over the last five years in which Medicaid money went to Planned Parenthood to pay for abortion services, and he wanted to be sure that proper procedures were followed.
All of them checked out, he said.
“They were all papered up,” he said “Properly documented.”
Yost, a Republican, is the second state official to inquire about Planned Parenthood and its actions in the wake of the public release in July of a series of surreptitiously recorded videos that purport to show Planned Parenthood officials in California discussing prices for fetal tissue.
Planned Parenthood officials there have maintained that the organization only recouped costs associated with delivery of fetal tissue donated for research, which is legal in that state.
Planned Parenthood officials in Ohio have said that clinics in Bedford Heights, Cincinnati and Columbus don’t allow patients to donate fetal tissue, and they comply with an Ohio law banning the sale of body parts from aborted fetuses.
Yet in July, Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine launched his own investigation to be sure Planned Parenthood in Ohio was complying with state law, although the attorney general’s office also has acknowledged that it has heard no accusations of wrongdoing.
Click here to read more of this story.
About Marion Online News
