The Sacramento City Council may disagree on some issues, but there is one issue on which there is complete unanimity: giving money to Planned Parenthood. Since 2012, Planned Parenthood has received part of the discretionary funds of every single member of the council.
KCRA reports that the funds donated by the council members primarily targeted teenage mothers through a Planned Parenthood scholarship and program that the organization claims supports 12 single mothers to the tune of $50 thousand dollars a year. Officials of the organization claim they keep funding for educational programs apart from their other services.
Angelique Ashby, a member of the council, defended donating her funds to the pro-abortion organization, telling KCRA:
I donated to a scholarship. The money that I gave only could go to a scholarship fund for young single moms already selected to go to college. At one point in my life, sir, that was me. So I hope that in doing so, that some of those young women grow up, love their city enough to come back, run for City Council and be the next Mayor Pro Tem of the City of Sacramento.
Another council member, Steve Cohn, emailed KCRA, stating, “I believe that is a undeniably worthy community purpose. These funds do not go to abortions or other controversial programming.”
In January 2013, LifeSite News reported that a study by Life Decisions International (LDI) showed Planned Parenthood for America (PPFA) had a sensational 2011-2012 fiscal year. The report stated that PPFA “slaughtered a record 333,964 preborn children, generating an estimated $150 million,” and almost $1.2 billion in revenue was generated. Eye on Sacramento and the League of Women Voters have been pressing the city to implement measures that would make the city government more transparent.