by Jake Smith
Abortion advocacy groups received close to $2 billion in federal taxpayer funding from 2019 to 2021, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released on Tuesday.
The GAO report was first requested in early 2022 by 142 congressional members led by Republican Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn and New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith, who underscored their concerns that taxpayer dollars are being used to fund abortion services. The report revealed that Planned Parenthood received approximately $1.78 billion in taxpayer funding from 2019 to 2021 and is receiving increased federal support under the current Biden administration.
“It is appalling that big abortion providers are continuing to receive billions of dollars in federal taxpayer funding,” Blackburn told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement. “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,” Smith told the DCNF in a statement. “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.”
.@PPFA thinks any reason is the right reason for an abortion up until birth.
These are the radicals, not pro-life advocates. https://t.co/NvODSkTEcI
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) June 1, 2023
Planned Parenthood was granted approximately $90 million in forgiven loans during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the GAO report. These loans were meant to be provided to small businesses with 500 employees or less, but Planned Parenthood has over 16,000 employees through affiliates worldwide and still took the funding.
“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 told the DCNF.
The Biden administration increased funding obligations to Planned Parenthood from approximately $5.7 million to $27 million between 2021 to 2022, a total 373% increase, according to the GAO report. The Biden administration also revoked a Trump administration rule in January 2021 that prevented funding from being used by foreign organizations to provide abortion services.
Aside from Planned Parenthood, five other abortion providers, including MSI Reproductive Choices, received over $100 million in taxpayer funding, according to the GAO report.
Approximately 60% percent of Americans oppose using taxpayer funding to pay for abortion services, according to a 2023 Marist poll, while 78% of Americans oppose taxpayer funding being used for abortion services in other countries.
The Marist poll was conducted from Jan. 6 to Jan. 9 with 1,025 respondents from both political parties. The margin of error was within ±3.5 percentage points.
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Jake Smith is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Planned Parenthood Building” by Fibonacci Blue. CC BY 2.0.
