It is illegal, if you mean "illegal" in the sense of what is illegal from the point of view of the federal government. From their point of view, Hutchinson is in direct defiance of federal law. However, from the point of view of the Constitution, the Arkansas governor is doing exactly what he is constitutionally entitled to do.
The problem with what is going on, in the sense of people being able to understand the legalities and various intricacies involving the governor's actions, is that we must first strip away the myths, correct the premise, and understand what the originalist opinion of the Founding Fathers would be regarding this issue. Also, let's not forget that the
Hyde Amendment is in place and disallows federal funding for abortion. Planned Parenthood gets around that by claiming that the federal funding being poured into their operations are for services other than abortion services.
The Democrats have done well through their own propaganda attacks, and through the media, to label any stand against abortion in the United States as being a part of the "War on Women." There apparently is no such thing as a "War on Children," according to these people, which has resulted in roughly
58 million abortions since Roe v. Wade unconstitutionally "legalized" abortion in the United States in 1973. As a result, political voices that should be standing firm in their support for protecting the lives of the unborn are fearful to even tread the politically caustic waters of the abortion issue. The Democrats, in turn, if there are Republicans willing to try to defund Planned Parenthood, are perfectly willing to let the GOP try, because a government shutdown always seems to prove disastrous for the Republican Party, and if it comes down to that, the liberal left is figuring those conservatives daring to consider defunding planned parenthood
will back down before it gets to the point of a government shutdown.
More than half a billion dollars of taxpayer money is pumped into Planned Parenthood each year. The funding is a combination of federally funded programs, and State programs. The organization also
strategically positions most of its centers in the inner-cities, ensuring that the customers are more likely to be poor, minorities, and more than willing to seek funding services associated with government programs. When one considers that the
founder of Planned Parenthood was a raging racist who wanted to use abortion as a means of eliminating what she considered to be "human weeds," it seems the policies of Planned Parenthood remain in line with Margaret Sanger's genocidal plans of eugenics and a master race.
Supporters of Planned Parenthood, and those that support the practice of abortion, quote federal laws and court rulings to convince Americans that what States, like Hutchinson's Arkansas, is doing to try to defund abortion is somehow illegal. Their premise is based on the idea that it is the court system's job to "interpret" the United States Constitution, and that the federal government is supreme over anything and everything at the State level.
The Supremacy Clause in Article VI. of the United States Constitution does not place any and all federal laws, rulings, or actions above those of the States. The States can have laws contrary to federal law when, as the clause indicates, the federal laws were not made "in pursuance" of the Constitution. As the authors of the United States Constitution, and the parents of the federal government, the States are not required to abide by unconstitutional federal laws, rulings, or actions.
The United States Constitution, whether it be in Article III (where the document establishes the judicial branch), or any other part of the document, does not grant the authority of interpreting the Constitution, known as "Judicial Review," to the federal court system. The "power" was granted largely by an opinion by John Marshall, the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, following a ruling regarding the
Marbury v. Madison case in 1803. In other words, the courts granted to themselves the power, and did so illegally.
An even larger constitutional tidbit about this issue revolves around the 10th Amendment, which explains that if a power is not granted to the federal government, and it is not prohibited to the States, it is a State authority. After an extensive investigation of the United States Constitution, including all of the amendments, one will find that abortion, medical services, or anything associated with those two concepts, are not expressly enumerated anywhere in the United States Constitution. Therefore, any and all federal funding, influence, laws, or court rulings regarding the issues of abortion or health care are unconstitutional. In short, the issues of abortion or anything related to health care, despite what the majority of justices ruled in
Roe v. Wade, are none of the federal government's business. And, since the issue is not prohibited to the States, it is up to the State governments regarding what they should and can do regarding these issues. In short, any and all federal laws that the liberal left Democrats are claiming these State governors are in defiance of are all unconstitutional. The governors of the States involved have every right at the State level to decide what to do regarding the abortion issue, or any health services and health programs, and if they wish to defund Planned Parenthood, or reject all federal involvement in any health services organization in their State, they have every right to do so.
Governors denying Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood from the federal government's point of view may be a case of the governors defying federal law, but since those laws are unconstitutional, the State's governors, legislatures, and judiciaries have every constitutional authority to terminate Medicaid contracts, deny federal funding, and essentially kick the federal government out of their State in regards to Planned Parenthood, abortion, and any and all health services, health programs, health care, or health insurance intrusions.
The question is, now, regarding these governors that are doing this, whether or not they will be able to stand firm behind their decision when the federal government begins throwing legal fiery darts at the States in response to what they are doing. The unfortunate truth is, judging by recent history, the States are likely to fold like a bunch of folding chairs. . . but I hope I am wrong about that.
Radio Host Dave Levine, a host on KMET 1490 AM on Monday, wrote on his blog, "Arkansas is the fourth state to terminate such contracts with the Feds--New Hampshire, Alabama and Louisiana are the others. By this time next year, 30-plus states will have stopped funding the baby killer company."
Mr. Levine was referring to Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson's decision to order his State's Department of Human Services to terminate the Medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood. Dave asked me in an email, "Isn't what Hutchinson is doing illegal?"
