AUGUSTA, Maine — Three Republican lawmakers in Maine want to take state action to defund Planned Parenthood.
In an OpEd to the Lewiston Sun Journal, state Reps. Richard Pickett, Mary Anne Kinney and Beth Turner says they want to introduce legislation that would "put a stop to the unlawful use of taxpayer dollars to fund abortion that might result in the harvesting and selling of baby body parts."
Democratic state Sen. Dawn Hill says the proposal is an overreaction to secretly recorded, highly edited videos that purport to show Planned Parenthood selling fetal tissue.
"That does not happen in Maine," she says. "There is no fetal tissue being marketed in Maine, so it's not even an issue for us."
The Republican proposal must be accepted by the bipartisan legislative council in order to be considered before the full Legislature.
