News

Mar 10, 2009

A drug court in Pennsylvania is under fire for funding an abortion.

Diane Gramley of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania tells OneNewsNow $275 was lent to a woman appearing before the drug court for an abortion. "[T]hey used a court administrator fund to do this," she notes, "and it's raised concerns among the Blair County commissioners that there are no written guidelines or any criteria as to how money can be used from this fund."

The Associated Press reports the woman was disowned by her parents after having her first child, and she became pregnant again. She had been in drug treatment for 18 months, and her counselor feared she would have a relapse without the abortion.

The court loaned her money from a fund created by a weekly fee that drug court defendants pay. Someone anonymously repaid the loan for her. Gramley says some local residents and pro-life groups are upset.

"For a court of any type to think they can take our taxpayer dollars and fund an abortion when it's supposed to be a drug court -- you know it just [means there] needs to be more government oversight on our taxpayer dollars which of course funded that particular slush fund, you could say," she concludes.