Why Does Planned Parenthood Need Nearly Half a Billion of Our Tax Dollars?

One billion dollars – that is the total net assets of the largest abortion provider in America, Planned Parenthood. Think about that, $1,000,000,000.

But where does that money come from? Astonishingly enough, you. 46%, nearly half, of the abortion giant’s billion-dollar budget comes from your tax dollars.

In the previous year, covering July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009, Planned Parenthood reported that it received a total of $363 million in taxpayer funding. Yet, their most recent report, covering July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010 shows that Planned Parenthood received an astounding $487.4 million dollars in taxpayer funds.

During the same one-year period, Planned Parenthood committed 329,455 abortions. Just how many adoption referrals did they perform? 841, not thousand, just 841 adoption referrals.

The question begs itself: why does this billion dollar abortion organization need taxpayer subsidies?

While federal law prevents tax dollars from directly funding abortions, there is nothing that prevents Planned Parenthood from using these hundreds of millions of tax dollars to free up other funds for abortions: to keep the lights on in their abortion facilities, pay for equipment, perform consultations, and abortion referrals. Planned Parenthood can use this money to pay doctor, administrator, and staff salaries, all of whom participate in committing abortions. Nothing is stopping them from using this money to pay legal fees, lobby for abortion drugs, or wage a publicity campaign to prevent the implementation of strict safety regulations in clinics.

The simple fact of the matter is that Planned Parenthood makes sure to perform “other” services, like pregnancy tests or distributing contraceptives, at all of its abortion clinics. That way it can use tax dollars to fund every other aspect of its business to keep its doors open, supposedly walling this money off from actually performing an abortion. And even this supposed wall is shady.

It is time to defund Planned Parenthood. In a time of economic crisis with debt spiraling out of control, nearly half a billion dollars of taxpayer funds could be put to better use. The abortion industry doesn’t need our money, and the American people are tired of their tax dollars being used to subsidize the abortion industry.

The ACLJ is firmly committed to the fight to defund Planned Parenthood in Congress and in the states. We have filed amicus briefs in federal courts defending the right of states to defund Planned Parenthood, and we are currently suing Planned Parenthood in California and Texas alleging tens of millions of dollars in fraudulent overbilling of taxpayers.