The Planned Parenthood Federation of America and five other organizations received hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to provide reproductive health services, conduct research and engage in educational activities, according to a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.
The report was requested by over 60 members of Congress in 2013 and examines the six organizations' expenditures of $482 million in federal funding between 2010 and 2012. Most of the money was provided by the Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The other five recipient organizations are the International Planned Parenthood Federation, Guttmacher Institute, Advocates for Youth, Population Council, and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States.
These organizations also spent about $1.2 billion in combined federal and state funds under federal health programs that require shared funding.
"In summary, two federal agencies, HHS [Department of Health and Human Services] and USAID [U.S. Agency for International Development], reported obligating about $236 million in grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts to the six organizations from fiscal year 2010 through fiscal year 2012," the report says. "Of this amount, HHS obligated about $107 million to the six organizations, while USAID obligated about $128 million to two of the six organizations, Population Council and member associations of International Planned Parenthood Federation. During this same time frame, the six organizations reported expending over $482 million in federal funding. In addition to funding they received directly from HHS and USAID, the six organizations reported expending funding they received indirectly from HHS and USAID as well as the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Housing and Urban Development, and Justice."
The GAO also noted that 21 million people were served by federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) that provided non-abortion related health services.
In a joint press release, U.S. Reps. Diane Black, R-Tenn., Pete Olson, R-Texas, Chris Smith, R-N.J., and Sen. David Vitter, R-La., criticized the majority of GAO's findings, but commended the FQHCs as "offering a positive alternative to abortion providers like Planned Parenthood."
A bill authored by Black and Vitter, the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, would "end Title X grants for 'health care' providers that perform abortions."
A Marist/Knights of Columbus poll from January found that 68 percent of Americans oppose taxpayer funding of abortion, while only 28 percent support it.
"This report confirms what we suspected all along: hard-earned taxpayer dollars continue to be used to promote abortions," Black said in the press release. "The GAO study found that Planned Parenthood Federation of America alone - the nation's largest abortion provider - spent about $1.5 billion in combined federal and state funding during this reporting period. This is shameful and we have a responsibility to stop it. As a nurse for more than 40 years, I know that abortion is not health care. In light of this report, Congress should act swiftly by passing the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, which would help cut off federal funding of organizations like these that promote the destruction of unborn life."
"It shouldn't take a GAO request from Congress for the American public to know where their tax dollars are being spent," Olson added. "Yet, since I've been in Congress, this is the only way we can get answers. That's why I continue to demand transparency and fight to stop organizations like Planned Parenthood from receiving a single tax dollar. I will continue to do all I can to prevent taxpayers from being forced to support organizations that promote or perform abortions. Greater transparency is critically important and precisely what these groups seek to avoid."
