Federal law prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars to fund ending life in the womb, but a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) says the federal government shelled out Americans’ hard-earned money to subsidize the domestic and global abortion industry.
GAO initiated the 60-page report at the request of nearly 150 congressional Republicans led by Sen. Marsha Blackburn, Rep. Chris Smith, and Rep. Vicky Hartzler in January 2022. The agency’s previous report, spanning fiscal years 2016 to 2018, tracked nearly $2 billion in government spending directly to the pockets of several abortion activist groups.
The latest GAO report obtained by The Federalist that abortion organizations like Planned Parenthood, International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), MSI Reproductive Choices, and at least four U.S. abortion facilities received a combined total of $1.89 billion through grants, agreements, loans, and programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Children’s Health Insurance between 2019 and 2021.
At Home
Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), the nation’s largest abortion business, which committed 1.11 million murders in utero between 2019 and 2021, collected the largest share of funds, $1.78 billion.
Most of PPFA’s funding, $1.53 billion, came from Medicaid, Medicare, and Children’s Health Insurance Program reimbursements, with another $148.5 million coming from “cooperative agreements” and grants like those from the Title X Family Planning Program. It wasn’t until the Trump administration enacted its Protect Life rule in 2019, prohibiting taxpayer dollars from funding programs that refer or provide abortion or share a physical space with abortionists, that PPFA stopped accepting Title X grants.
This protest continued until 2021 when the Biden administration rescinded the Trump policy and promised 373 percent more funds to Planned Parenthood in 2022.
The report found that the remaining $90.41 million in taxpayer dollars funneled to Planned Parenthood was pulled by the federal government from the Paycheck Protection Program to keep the abortion provider in business during Covid lockdowns. More than three dozen Planned Parenthood affiliates across the country took advantage of the program “designed to provide a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on payroll.”
When the Small Business Administration asked the affiliates to return the funds because they were “ineligible for a PPP loan under the applicable affiliation rules and size standards, consistent with Congressional intent,” some Planned Parenthood branches refused to return the money. The SBA continued approving loans for other Planned Parenthood affiliates even after acknowledging that PPFA did not qualify for the loan program because its networks of tens of thousands of employees far exceed the 500-employee limit set by Congress.
Four unnamed domestic, regional abortion businesses also received a combined $107.74 million in taxpayer dollars to continue their services, including ending life in the womb.
Abroad
An overwhelming majority of Americans across all political affiliations say they oppose funding overseas abortions, but that didn’t stop the federal government from handing Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger’s global abortion activist organization and MSI Reproductive Choices millions of dollars.
IPPF received $2.03 million from 2019 to 2021. The money fueled IPPF’s mission to “supply and support safe and legal abortion services and care,” including thousands of chemical abortions around the world.
Democrat administrations are good for abortion advocates like IPPF, which is why it raked in millions of tax dollars during President Barack Obama’s last year in office alone. Federal funding to IPPF, however, fell drastically after the Trump administration reinstated a rule barring the transfer of taxpayer dollars to organizations that touted ending life in the womb in 2017.
The abortion organization reported forfeiting close to $100 million in federal funding, which contributed to a 42 percent decrease in “member services” such as abortions because it refused to abide by the rule.
Funding for organizations like IPPF is only expected to increase since President Joe Biden rescinded the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance policy, more commonly known as the Mexico City policy, during his first month in office. Now, organizations like IPPF no longer have to choose between millions in grants and performing abortions in 146 countries across the globe.
MSI Reproductive Choices, known for promoting and committing abortions in 37 countries, also received $1.35 million in tax dollars in 2019 to fuel its global strategy goal of fulfilling 1 in every 3 abortions.
MSI did not receive federal funding in 2020 or 2021 but continues to thrive off of the millions of dollars funneled to it previously.
“It is appalling that big abortion providers are continuing to receive billions of dollars in federal taxpayer funding,” Blackburn said in a statement. “While small businesses struggled to make ends meet during the pandemic, 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. 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. I will never stop fighting to protect the unborn and end taxpayer-funded support for the abortion industry.”
“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,” Rep. Chris Smith, co-chair of the House Pro-Life Caucus, added. “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.”
