More than a dozen protesters gathered over the weekend at the governor’s mansion in Des Moines. Governor Terry Branstad has been under pressure from Iowa Republicans to eliminate all government funding for Planned Parenthood.  Branstad says he doesn’t have legal authority to strip Planned Parenthood of taxpayer funding and Democratic State Senator Kevin Kinney says he agrees with the governor. Kinney says the issue has been researched by both the governor’s office and Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller’s office, and an effort to do so could lead to a lawsuit.

Kinney says none of the money is used for abortions in Iowa and he fears that cutting off funding for Planned Parenthood would limit healthcare in rural Iowa.