Waste of the Day: Planned Parenthood, Other Abortion Providers Got $2 Billion From Feds

This story originally was published by Real Clear Wire

By Adam Andrzejewski
Real Clear Wire

The federal government gave almost $2 billion to abortion advocacy groups and providers between 2019 and 2021, according to a Government Accountability Office report.

Planned Parenthood received the vast majority of the funding — $1.8 billion. The International Planned Parenthood Federation received just over $2 million, MSI Reproductive Choices received $145 million, and four domestic regional abortion providers received $107.7 million, according to the report from the federal watchdog.

Planned Parenthood affiliates also received $90.4 million in forgiven Paycheck Protection Program loans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During this three-year period, Planned Parenthood performed 1.11 million abortions.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is a member of the Republican coalition in the House and the Senate that originally requested the report from the GAO.

“It is appalling that big abortion providers are continuing to receive billions of dollars in federal taxpayer funding,” she said. “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,” Breitbart reported.

Federal law prohibits the federal funding of abortions, but doesn’t prohibit funding abortion providers outright. Blackburn, along with Reps. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) and Chris Smith (R-NJ) led 142 Congressional members in January 2022 in requesting the GAO report that details federal funding for abortion advocacy groups in fiscal years 2019 through 2021.

Here’s a breakdown of federal funding to Planned Parenthood: reimbursements from Medicaid, Medicare, and CHIP Reimbursements ($1.5 billion), federal funding in grants and cooperative agreements ($148.5 million), and loans forgiven in the Paycheck Protection Program ($90.4 million).

According to the GAO report, annual federal grant money to Planned Parenthood has quadrupled since 2019, a difference between the Trump and Biden administrations.

A January 2023 poll from Marist shows that 60% of Americans oppose using taxpayer dollars to fund abortions. While the organizations can argue the dollars didn’t pay for abortions, money is fungible, and the money helped their organizations operate and provide abortions.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com

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