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Suit contends taxes funding abortions

Two nonprofits, state dispute plaintiff's claim

By David Montero, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published October 30, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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A lawsuit filed in Denver District Court on Wednesday contends that two nonprofits used state taxpayer dollars to fund abortions, which would be a violation of the Colorado Constitution.

Mark Hotaling, plaintiff in the lawsuit, said contracts showed Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains and Boulder Valley Women's Health got $4.5 million each over the course of last year and 2008. And he said that money is going toward funding abortions.

"This is nothing more than an abortionist's shell game," said Hotaling, who describes himself as a private citizen. "Somebody has to stand up for the will of the people and the constitution."

The lawsuit, which names the groups, the state health department and Gov. Bill Ritter as defendants, seeks to have the contracts voided.

But Ned Calonge, chief medical officer of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said the plaintiff made two critical mistakes.

First, the money is from the federal government and is merely passed on by the state, he said. Second, the dollar amounts that Hotaling said went to Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains and Boulder Valley Women's Health Center are wrong.

"It's unfortunate the parties bringing the lawsuit didn't talk to anyone here about how state contracts work," Calonge said.

Calonge said the $4.5 million is the total distributed each year to 125 nonprofits throughout the state.

The federal grant money, he said, funds the Women's Wellness Connection, a program that provides cancer screenings. He said Boulder Valley Women's Health has been getting the grant money since 1991 and Planned Parenthood since 1995.

The lawsuit is viewed with suspicion by Leslie Durgin, senior vice president for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. She noted Hotaling was flanked at a news conference at the state Capitol on Wednesday by Kristi Burton, co-author of Amendment 48 - the ballot measure seeking to define the word person in the Colorado Constitution to include fertilized eggs.

Burton had pitched the news conference as a "big announcement" that she felt could shake up the electorate. The so-called Personhood Amendment was getting trounced in a recent Rocky Mountain News/CBS4 poll by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

Durgin, who showed up after Hotaling held his news conference, pointed to the polling results and said, "I think it's not an accident Ms. Burton is here."

Durgin said Planned Parenthood got $610,792 in the most recent fiscal year through the Women's Wellness Connection grant, which pays for services such as Pap smears and breast exams.

Durgin said there was no way they got as much as Hotaling claimed. "If we did, we could serve a lot more women," she said.

Barry Arrington, an attorney associated with the Alliance Defense Fund, is representing Hotaling. Among other things, the fund litigates cases "to protect the freedom of religion, guard the sanctity of human life, and preserve marriage and traditional family values," its Web site says.

Comments

  • October 30, 2008

    7:28 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Acemon writes:

    Interesting. Religious groups are opposed to the government funding of family health clinics because they claim that even though the money is for administrative costs and sex education, it frees up other money for abortions.

    At the same time, religious groups continue to seek government money that they claim will only go to help their private schools. Wouldn't helping the schools then free up other money to help them advance their religious agenda?

    Some people want it both ways. What would Jesus say about hypocrits?

  • October 30, 2008

    12:35 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    666 writes:

    I'm not sure what Jesus said about hypocrites (I must have missed that episode) but a lot of them are claiming to represent him, and that can't go over well with him.

    It's bad enough to draft an amendment that would make the law into a biological boobytrap that no one who wants children can escape, but to make drastic false allegations in public that can be completely and totally disproven using publicly available sources? That smacks of sheer stupidity.

    This will help Amendment 48 about as much as the bizarre McCain/Palin "Obama is a Muslim terrorist" has helped their campaign. As in, not frickin' much.

    I suppose we rational voters should welcome this ridiculous testament to both the delusion of the anti-choicers and the lack of scruples of their legal counsel. After the smoke clears and their total humiliation is complete, the sanctimonious "Womb Raiders" will think twice before hatching a plot that is this badly conceived (pun intended).