New Governor Matt Bevin (R-Ky.) didn't just campaign on social values -- he's governing from them. Weeks after offering a common sense accommodation to Rowan County Clerk of Court Kim Davis, the governor is strengthening his pro-life hand with a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood. After January, when Bevin suspended the license of a clinic for performing abortions without a license, the governor is now suing Cecile Richards's group for trying to rush its application through Bevin's liberal predecessor but continued doing at least 23 abortions in the meantime -- a crime punishable by $500 to $10,000 per day.
"It's that brazen disregard for the law that is going to be hammered down," Bevin said at the time. "There is no tolerance whatsoever for people in the Commonwealth of Kentucky disregarding the law. They are unlicensed. They are doing it knowingly, and they are going to be brought to justice on this front." As part of the licensing process, the clinics are required to put plans in place with a local hospital for transfer in case of an emergency. By failing to do so while it performed abortions, Bevin argues that almost two dozen women's lives were at risk. "Planned Parenthood should be required to pay fines in the maximum amount allowed by law in order to punish it for its callous and knowing violations of law and to deter it and others from such violations in the future," the governor argued in a statement.
Up north, Governor Scott Walker (R-Wisc.) built on his pro-life legacy by slashing millions of dollars from the state's budget for Planned Parenthood and redirecting it to community health centers that aren't under investigation for trafficking in baby body parts. For Governor Walker, who had already signed a 20-week abortion ban into law, this was another significant step for the pro-life movement in Wisconsin. While Americans wait for a president who takes the same stand, our hats go off to the many pro-life leaders -- including this Congress's -- for doing what taxpayers have demanded for some time: provide care that respects life and the women carrying it.
