Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers and advocacy groups received nearly $2 billion from the federal government from 2019 to 2021, according to a new report.
The new report from the Government Accountability Office showed groups that advocate legal abortion obtained at least $1.89 billion in public funds from federal and state governments, according to the offices of Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ).
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“It is appalling that big abortion providers are continuing to receive billions of dollars in federal taxpayer funding," Blackburn, who commissioned the report along with Smith and Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), 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."
In January of last year, 142 senators and representatives signed the request for the GAO report.
While Planned Parenthood and its affiliates performed 1.11 million abortions from 2019 to 2021, it received the lion's share of taxpayer money, totaling about $1.78 billion. Those funds included reimbursements from government programs, including Medicaid, Medicare, and the Children's Health Insurance Program, and therefore also included some state-level public funding.
Medicaid, Medicare, and CHIP made up $1.53 billion of Planned Parenthood's funding during the years in question, during which the abortion giant also received $148.5 million in federal grants and cooperative agreements and $90.41 million from the pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Plan. Loan forgiveness from the PPP was intended for small businesses with fewer than 500 employees, but Planned Parenthood and its affiliates have more than 16,000 employees across the country.
Further, from 2021 to 2022, the Biden administration increased its funding to the abortion provider specifically through the Department of Health and Human Services from $5.71 million to $27.06 million — a 373% increase.
That expenditure came after the Biden administration rescinded the Trump-era Protect Life Rule for Title X programs, which barred all groups that received federal funding through Title X from referring women to abortion providers and required them to maintain physical and financial separation from abortion providers. During the Obama administration, Title X accounted for the second-highest source of federal funding for Planned Parenthood after Medicaid reimbursements.
Other organizations that advocate legal abortion received tax funds as well, including domestic regional providers FPA Women's Health, American Women's Services, All Women's Health Center, and Whole Woman's Health, totaling $107.74 million from 2019 to 2021.
Taxpayers also funded abortion globally, according to the report, which detailed $2.03 million for International Planned Parenthood Federation and $1.35 million for MSI Reproductive Choices.
In 2022, IPPF provided 5 million "abortion-related services," while MSI reported 4.7 million "clients reached with safe abortion or post-abortion care."
“GAO found that Planned Parenthood received a whopping $1.78 billion between 2019-2021 while the nation was struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Smith, co-chairman of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus. “This included $90.14 million in forgivable loans through the Paycheck Protection Program — money that could have gone to struggling small businesses, many of which were forced to close.”
“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 continued. “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.”
Early in his administration, former President Donald Trump issued the "Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance" rule to ensure that "no U.S. taxpayer money should support foreign organizations that perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations."
The rule gave global health organizations the option either to give up their abortion operations and receive federal grants or continue the procedure and forfeit the money, totaling around $8.8 billion. Despite those efforts, President Joe Biden repealed the policy nearly immediately after taking office.
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According to a Marist survey from earlier this year, 60% of the public opposes or strongly opposes taxpayer funding for abortions at home, and 78% feels the same way about the funding abroad.
"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," Blackburn's statement continued. "I will never stop fighting to protect the unborn and end taxpayer-funded support for the abortion industry.”