A legislative committee in Ohio has approved a bill that seeks to defund the abortion giant Planned Parenthood.

According to reports, the Health Committee of the Ohio House of Representatives voted party lines today, with all 11 Republicans in favor of the legislation and all 9 Democrats opposed. The bill, which aims to prioritize state family planning funding, would deflect money away from organizations that provide abortion-on-demand and reallocate it to medical practices that focus more on women’s health issues.

“Planned Parenthood has a monopoly on public funding, but they provide only a fraction of health services to women in Ohio,” said Stephanie Krider, legislative director for Ohio Right to Life. “Local health districts, community health centers and community action agencies provide a vast majority of health care services to low-income and uninsured women and that is where this funding will go.”

Stephanie Kight, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Ohio, said that she was shocked that the legislature sought to redistribute the funds that had previously been allotted to the organization.

“Politicians who want to end funding for Planned Parenthood don’t seem to know what it is we do every day,” Kight said. “They don’t know, or they just don’t care.”

As previously reported, some are disputing claims that Planned Parenthood offers services such as mammograms, and state that if the organization was doing so, it would be in violation of federal law.

“No one should prop up an abortion business by claiming it is helping women in ways that it does not,” said senior counsel Casey Mattox with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), who outlined that he wrote to the Obama administration earlier this year to request copies of Planned Parenthood’s mammogram permits and was told that none exist. “The MQSA (Mammogram Quality Standards Act) is a women’s health and safety law, and its licensing requirement is designed to ensure that the mammogram a woman receives is accurate and dependable. … Planned Parenthood does not have that required license.”

As of the latest compiled data, Planned Parenthood is recorded as having performed 329,445 abortions in 2010.

Ohio’s funding bill, HB298, will now move to the state legislature to be considered by the House and Senate. If passed, Planned Parenthood could lose up to $1.7 million in the state.

“The facts are crystal clear, Ohio is a pro-life state,” Krider said. “Ohio women spoke clearly on election night by re-electing every pro-life state senator in Ohio, increasing majorities for the pro-life Ohio House of Representatives and soundly defeating Issue 2 which was strongly supported by Planned Parenthood and their allies.”

Ohio now becomes the 11th state to work to defund Planned Parenthood.

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