Texas government employees can no longer donate to Planned Parenthood – or pro-abortion companies like it – through their paychecks.
Last year, Texas Senate Bill 22 was passed and signed into law. The bill was designed to protect state taxpayer dollars by prohibiting government agencies from deducting money from employees’ paychecks. People began questioning recently whether or not the law applies to donations through the State Employee Charitable Campaign.
Earlier this month, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton clarified the controversy around the new state law, stating that the law “prohibits the State Employee Charitable Campaign and its Policy Committee from entering into a taxpayer resource transaction with an abortion provider or an affiliate of an abortion provider.” The Texas Attorney General said the program “constitutes a taxpayer resource transaction.”
“Government Code thus prohibits the Policy Committee from approving abortion providers or affiliates as eligible charitable organizations for the Campaign,” Paxton said in the opinion.
According to the Dallas Morning News:
Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, which has health centers in Dallas and Fort Worth, was informed about the nonbinding ruling Friday, spokeswoman Sarah Wheat said. The organization has participated in the campaign since at least 2000, bringing in around $180,000 per year, she said.
The law, authored by Republican Sen. Donna Campbell of New Braunfels, defines a “taxpayer resource transaction” as the “sale, purchase, lease, donation of money, goods, services, or real property, or any other transaction between a governmental entity and a private entity.”
According to Lifenews, other states have taken similar action:
In 2015, Arizona cut Planned Parenthood from its list of approved charities in its employee charitable giving program.
Planned Parenthood’s huge emphasis on abortion is not beneficial to women. Having an abortion is not beneficial to women, even if the circumstances surrounding the pregnancy are tragic. Having an abortion further compounds the tragedy, Further, having an abortion violates civil rights, punishes innocent people (most notably the preform infant). Abortion can harm women and almost always harms relationships with significant others and family members. The reality and effects of an abortion never go away, because it is the taking of an innocent life. As you can see, all of the results of an abortion only serve to create new problems. Abortion is not a problem solver, it’s not empowering or liberating for women, and it’s important for women and families to understand these facts.
