Planned Parenthood Received $1.5 Billion in Taxpayer Funds Over Three Years, Gov't Report Finds
A report released Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office found that America's largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, received at least $1.5 billion in state and federal funding in a three-year span from 2010-2012.
The investigation additionally found that the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and five other pro-abortion advocacy companies— Advocates for Youth, Guttmacher Institute, International Planned Parenthood Federation, Population Council, and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States – spent a combined total of nearly $482 million in direct federal funding received from Health and Human Services and United States Agency of International Development during that time.
The report, which was compiled after a group of over 60 pro-life Congress members led by U.S. Reps. Diane Black, R-Tenn., Chris Smith, R-N.J. and Pete Olson, R-Texas, sent a letter to GAO in February of 2013 asking for data on the how much federal funding was expended by six major organizations who advocate and or perform elective abortion-on-demand from 2010-2012.
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Planned Parenthood spent most of the $482 million provided by HHS and USAID to the six groups, spending over $344 million of it. Additionally, Planned Parenthood received over $1.2 billion from combined state and federal funds from State Children's Health Insurance Program, Medicare and Medicaid.
"The Obama Administration is committed to advancing a pro-abortion agenda and continually has placed the demands of abortion advocates and providers at the top of its public health agenda for six years [and] all the expenses [are] the taxpayers," said the director of Family Research Council's Center for Human Dignity, Arina Grossu, in a press release.
Although Planned Parenthood gets about $500 million in taxpayer dollars every year and offers other services, abortions accounted for 94 percent of the company's pregnancy services in 2013.
"Planned Parenthood –– Child Abuse Incorporated –– is responsible for killing more than 6 million unborn children, and it is unconscionable that this organization continues to be subsidized by the American taxpayer," Smith said in a combined statement.
Although the Hyde Amendment, which was made law in 1976, prohibits the federal government from using taxpayer dollars to fund abortions, elective abortion providers and supporters are able to secure federal funding because of the other services they offer, senior policy advisor for the Christian pro-life activist organization Operation Rescue, Cheryl Sullenger, previously told The Christian Post.
Under the frequently-asked-questions section on the Planned Parenthood website, the company explains that it provides contraception, cancer screenings, breast exams, treatments for sexually transmitted infections and HIV tests with the tax dollars it receives.
"The effort to bar Planned Parenthood health centers from receiving any federal funds would shatter the country's public health safety net and jeopardize women's health," the website claims. "Without Planned Parenthood's 800-plus health centers, millions of women will have no place to go for basic, preventive health care."
In her statement, Black said that the government's trend of providing funding to companies like Planned Parenthood is "shameful" and there is a responsibility for Congress to end the trend.
"This report confirms what we suspected all along: hard-earned taxpayer dollars continue to be used to promote abortions," Black explained. "That is shameful and we have a responsibility to stop it. As a nurse for more than 40 years, I know that abortion is not health care."
Olson said it is appalling that Congress members have to get involved in order for the U.S. citizens to know how much of their money is actually being given to elective abortion-advocating companies.
"It shouldn't take a GAO request from Congress for the American public to know where their tax dollars are being spent. Yet, since I have been in Congress , this is the only way we can get answers," Olson said in a press release. "That's why I continue to demand transparency and fight to stop organizations like Planned Parenthood from receiving a single tax dollar. I will continue to do all I can to prevent taxpayers from being forced to support organizations that promote or perform abortions."
Black's statement added that Congress should further act on the findings of the report and pass the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, which would further prevent federal funding from being given to organizations that "promote the destruction of unborn life."
"It's sad irony that this study would be released at a time when Senate Democrats are working against human trafficking and medicare bills that continue the longstanding Hyde Amendment aimed at prohibiting federal funding of abortions," Black said. "As the GAO report clearly shows, this amendment alone does not fully prevent the federal funding of abortion providers and promoters. And lets not forget, this information the Obama administration never wanted us to have."
