Branstad wants to ensure that Planned Parenthood receives no taxpayer funds for abortions

DES MOINES — Gov. Terry Branstad has asked the Iowa Department of Public Health to research state practices to ensure no state taxpayer dollars are being used to pay for abortions, his office says.

Branstad's request comes in response to a video showing a Planned Parenthood employee discussing the sale of fetal tissue for research.

Branstad was 'appalled' by the video and found it 'disturbing,' his spokesman said.

'Because Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Reynolds believe strongly that every life is worth protecting, they have asked the Iowa Department of Public Health to thoroughly review the funding the Legislature appropriated for women's health and the Family Planning Block Grant to ensure it does not and will not ever fund abortions or operations related to abortion procedures,' Branstad spokesman Jimmy Centers said in a statement.

Centers said Planned Parenthood does not receive Iowa state funds for abortions, and the administration has ensured the organization is not reimbursed for abortions. Centers also noted there have been no taxpayer-reimbursed Medicaid abortions over the past two years.

Planned Parenthood, in a letter delivered this week to Congress, called the secretly recorded video fraudulent and part of an expansive effort to prohibit abortions and undermine the women's health services provider.