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Another Reason for Congress to Defund Planned Parenthood

By 

Jay Sekulow

|
July 11, 2011

3 min read

Pro Life

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It is apparent that Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider, can no longer continue to receive more than $350 million dollars a year in federal taxpayer funds without additional scrutiny.

Of course, Planned Parenthood claims none of the tax funds it receives go directly toward funding abortions. But the fact is that by receiving such a huge taxpayer windfall, additional funds are freed up for Planned Parenthood to use for abortions.

We have argued for some time now that federal taxpayer funds should be eliminated and we continue to work in Congress to see that such a measure eventually is approved. As you may recall, the House overwhelmingly approved an amendment this spring to defund Planned Parenthood. Unfortunately, it was voted down in the Senate.

Now, comes an eye-opening new report - from our friends at Americans United For Life (AUL). The report compiles a 40-year examination of the nation's largest abortion business and urges Congress to conduct hearings to investigate a number of concerns including:

  • Abortion is Planned Parenthood's chief business, with 340 abortions occurring for every adoption referral.
  • As federal funding has doubled, so has the number of abortions performed.
  • Some state clinics are accused of overbilling government health care programs.
  • The handling of sexual abuse cases is uneven.

AUL's complete report is posted here.

Reaction to that report is beginning to come in. Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), who chairs the Energy & Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, told Politico he may schedule a hearing to address these concerns: "I believe my Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee should review the findings of this report and possibly hold a hearing on why taxpayers are funding Planned Parenthood with its record of abuse and violations of state laws," Rep. Stearns said. "The American people deserve a concrete reason for funding Planned Parenthood; a reason I do not believe exists."

Our work challenging Planned Parenthood continues. We are in federal court in California representing a former Planned Parenthood financial officer - a whistle-blower - who contends that Planned Parenthood affiliates overbilled the government to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.

And, we're preparing an amicus brief to be filed soon backing the state of Indiana's decision to cut-off the federal funds it receives to Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood, along with the ACLU, are in court trying to block Indiana's sensible and constitutional measure.

As you might imagine, Planned Parenthood contends it provides a valuable health service to millions of women across America. And, in response to the revealing and damaging report issued by AUL, Planned Parenthood called it a "politically-driven attack" and responded with this: "We are proud of the trust millions of women place in us every year to provide high quality health care."

The question for Planned Parenthood: Are they proud of the millions of abortions they continue to provide around the globe?

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