A dispute regarding abortions performed at a Planned Parenthood facility in Louisville has brought out differing viewpoints in Warren County.

Steve Pitt, general counsel for Gov. Matt Bevin, said the clinic, which opened in December, did not meet two statutes needed to operate as an abortion facility. The first is KRS 216B.105, which says “no person shall operate any health facility in this commonwealth without first obtaining a license issued by the cabinet.” The second is KRS 216B.0435, which says “the written agreements of an abortion facility with an acute-care hospital and with a local ambulance service shall be filed by the abortion facility with the cabinet.”

Those agreements weren’t filed, according to Pitt.

“It’s very clear that Planned Parenthood did not have a license to do abortions and the application … did not (have) a contract with an ambulance service or a contract with a hospital, which is putting women at great risk,” Pitt told the Daily News.

Betty Cockrum, president of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, told Louisville’s WFPL News last week that the abortions were not performed illegally and that the facility began providing services after receiving written approval in December from then-state Inspector General Maryellen Mynear.

The application to operate was filed with the previous administration and appeared headed for approval, but a formal license couldn’t be issued until after an inspection took place at an operational facility, Mynear said in an email to Planned Parenthood lawyer Carole Christian, according to a Courier-Journal report.

A rally outside Planned Parenthood on Saturday brought hundreds of people together, fueling the question if there is a need for more health facilities such as Planned Parenthood in Kentucky.

Dr. Kristi Branham, director of Western Kentucky University’s gender and women’s studies program, said she doesn’t understand why people would be against providing more health care opportunities to people who can’t afford it.

“We all know that Planned Parenthood does more than provide abortions. It’s not like women are storming the gates” to have abortions, Branham said. “Not everyone has the access to health care in the same way and individuals that don’t have access, we’re trying to regulate their choices.”

Those protests, however, came only after the clinic began offering abortion services.

Tom James, lead pastor at Eastwood Baptist Church in Bowling Green, doesn’t think there is a need for Planned Parenthood and that a vast majority of the agency’s work is providing abortions.

“I think there is a place for reproductive health education,” James said. “I’ve told my church family that people make a choice to have sex. Once the child is conceived, it’s no longer a choice, it’s a child. I think it’s unacceptable to terminate a child’s life just because it’s an inconvenience.”

WKU environmental science and technology professor Dr. Bryan Reaka is the adviser for Hilltoppers for Life. He said more clinics like Planned Parenthood aren’t needed in the state.

Unitarian Universalist Church of Bowling Green minister Peter Connolly said the facility offers an abundance of services.

“I think people that focus only on the abortion (service) would really do better to look at the broad range of services offered,” Connolly said. “I think it’s necessary to have agencies such as Planned Parenthood in order for women to have the information they need and the services they need. People need other options to have a wider variety of choice.”

— Follow faith/general assignments reporter Simone C. Payne on Twitter attwitter.com/_SimonePayne or visit bgdailynews.com.