Federal and state taxpayers provided $1.5 billion in funding to abortion providers over a three-year period, says a new report released by the watchdog agency Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The report, which was requested by 120 members of Congress led by Reps. Diane Black (R-TN), Pete Olson (R-TX) and Chris Smith (R-NJ), and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), shows that, between 2013 and 2015, taxpayers sent $1.5 billion to abortion providers Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), and Marie Stopes International (MSI). GAO found that these three organizations spent $410 million in federal funding between 2013 and 2015, and received $1.2 billion combined federal and state funds under federal health programs that require shared funding.
Black said the report by the GAO exposes the “atrocities” that “are done at the expense of taxpayers.”
“All of us in the healthcare field took an oath to fight for life, and abortion destroys that,” she said in a press statement. “Industry giants like Planned Parenthood perform more than 320,000 abortions every year, and this GAO report exposes that these atrocities are done at the expense of taxpayers.”
“Abortion is not family planning,” Black added. “Abortion is family destruction, and the fact that $1.5 billion in taxpayer dollars is funneled to this industry is sickening. The American people deserve better.”
Additionally, the report reveals that four Planned Parenthood affiliates that have been referred to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation received $544 million in tax dollars over three years, or 1/3 of Planned Parenthood’s $1.5 billion in funding nationally.
The four affiliates of the abortion vendor that have been referred to the Justice Department in the wake of allegations of illegal sales of the organs of aborted babies are:
- Planned Parenthood Mar Monte – $229 million
- Planned Parenthood Los Angeles – $106 million
- Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest – $105 million
- Planned Parenthood Northern California – $104 million
“It is bad enough that the nation’s largest abortion business, Planned Parenthood, continues to receive more than half a billion dollars a year from American taxpayers while embroiled in the horrific scandal of harvesting babies’ body parts for profit,” said Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser. “Now we can see that the worst offenders benefit most from taxes paid by America’s working men and women.”
March for Life president Jeanne Mancini said, “Not only do women deserve real, holistic health care but Americans should not be forced to fund our nation’s largest abortion provider, an organization under investigation by the DOJ for trafficking baby body parts. It is high time for Congress to defund Planned Parenthood.”
Ernst said the report shows the “absurd amount of taxpayer dollars” that fund Planned Parenthood and its international affiliates.
“More than $1.5 billion in tax payer’s dollars should not go to an organization with such blatant disrespect for human life,” she said.
“I thank the GAO for helping to shed a light on how American taxpayer money goes to organizations that promote or perform abortions,” Olson also said. “I remain committed to defunding Planned Parenthood and protecting the unborn, and we deserve full transparency on tax dollars for these organizations. The numbers are clear and the taxpayers deserve better.”
Smith said the GAO report demonstrates how the abortion industry has been pushing the narrative that abortion is health care. He pointed out that the Trump administration has made an effort to protect life by refusing to fund organizations overseas that perform or promote abortion.
“Thankfully, under President Trump’s Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance Policy, international abortion groups, like MSI and IPPF, must agree to not perform or promote abortion in order to receive taxpayer dollars,” he said. “This reform ensures that US international aid funds life-affirming care for both women and children. A similar protection should become the standard for all government funding; abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood – responsible for killing more than 7 million unborn children – must no longer be subsidized by the American taxpayer.”
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