Chris Lange, FISM News
Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers and advocacy groups raked in nearly $2 billion in public funds from 2019 to 2021, according to a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Federal and state governments doled out a staggering $1.89 billion in tax-generated dollars to fund abortions, with Planned Parenthood receiving the bulk of the largesse, to the tune of $1.78 billion, according to the comprehensive report.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) is among a group of 141 congressional lawmakers who commissioned the GAO report in January 2022.
“It is appalling that big abortion providers are continuing to receive billions of dollars in federal taxpayer funding,” Blackburn said. The senator also called out the largest single abortion provider in the U.S. for “illegally” benefitting from federal pandemic funds.
“Planned Parenthood illegally siphoned over $90 million from the Paycheck Protection Program, specifically designed to help our mom and pop shops keep their doors open,” Blackburn said.
We now know that nearly $2 BILLION in American taxpayer dollars has been funneled to big abortion from FY19-21.
This is unconscionable. pic.twitter.com/GfeDHVfKwR
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) December 12, 2023
Planned Parenthood is systematically racist and has been proven time and time again to cut corners and put women's lives at risk… funded by $2,000,000,000 in taxpayer dollars. 😡 https://t.co/jUPzpe5Ymt
— Students for Life of America (@StudentsforLife) December 14, 2023
Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), who co-chairs the Pro-Life Caucus with Blackburn, also took issue with Planned Parenthood receiving PPP funds.
“Federal taxpayer dollars should not be funneled to big abortion corporations like Planned Parenthood, which has killed over 9.3 million unborn children since 1970, including 1.11 million between 2019-2021,” Smith said. “This money would have been better spent helping the businesses that were forced to close or providing comprehensive medical support for both women and children.”
Pro-life Congressional lawmakers previously warned the Small Business Administration that Planned Parenthood was ineligible for PPP loans, since it provides funds to employ more than 16,000 people at its affiliates, according to the New York Post.
BIDEN ADMIN INCREASED FUNDING FOR PLANNED PARENTHOOD BY 373%
The GAO report indicates that Planned Parenthood and its affiliates receive nearly $600 million annually from funding sources that include grant awards or cooperative agreements; public health coverage programs including Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP; and “COVID-19-related funding, according to a topline summary of the report provided to TownHall by Blackburn and Smith.
The Trump-era Protect Life Rule for Title X programs prohibited the use of grants to public and nonprofit family planning services for “programs where abortion is a method of family planning.” In May 2019, the administration enacted a final rule that barred organizations receiving Title X funding “from promoting, referring for, or supporting abortion as a method of family planning.”
The summary noted that Planned Parenthood “was so committed to its abortion agenda that it refused to comply and forfeited Title X funding under the Trump Administration,” after which nearly all of its affiliates followed suit.
Planned Parenthood's profit margins, measured in lives not lived.
— 40 Days for Life (@40daysforlife) December 12, 2023
Title X accounted for the second-highest source of federal funding for Planned Parenthood after Medicaid reimbursements during the Obama administration, according to the Washington Examiner.
The Biden administration rescinded the Trump administration’s Protect Life Rule in 2021, along with the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance (PLGHA) program. From 2021 to 2022, the administration also increased funding to Planned Parenthood from $5.71 million to $27.06 million, a 373% increase, through the Department of Health and Human Services.
Planned Parenthood reported more than $18.7 million in total revenue for fiscal year 2022, $5 million of which came from government grant funding. The abortion provider received roughly $2.2 million from New York State Medicaid and more than $6.5 million from Medicaid Managed Care insurance. The remaining revenue came from commercial insurance, direct patient charges, and donations, as listed in the non-profit’s 2022 annual report.
According to a January Marist/Knights of Columbus poll, 60% of Americans oppose the government using their tax dollars to fund abortions.
Blackburn argued that “The American people want their tax dollars spent responsibly and in line with our nation’s values — not on the Left’s abortion-on-demand agenda.”