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WASHINGTON, D.C., January 5, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — Information taken from federal audits shows that Planned Parenthood has wasted at least $12.8 million in taxpayer funds, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Charlotte Lozier Institute.

The two organizations released this week their fifth annual report to Congress on the abuses, potential fraudulent activity, and illegal use of taxpayer money by Planned Parenthood.

Findings in the report’s review of federal audits include illegal activities such as a Nebraska Planned Parenthood using federal tax dollars for abortion expenses, and illegal overbilling.

Two California Planned Parenthood abortuaries alone were exposed by audits for overbilling clients $5.2 million.  

Also evaluated in the report are state “family planning” programs and abortion businesses other than the nation's largest abortion franchise.

The 2017 report is updated to include 51 new federal audits and reviews of Planned Parenthood bookkeeping and practices.  

The report is titled “Profit. No Matter What.”

An ADF press release explains that Planned Parenthood is specifically the source of the problem. “Three federal audits specifically identify Planned Parenthood — and only Planned Parenthood — as the problem in state family planning program overbilling,” the press release stated.

The report suggests that the government puts too much trust in Planned Parenthood’s “integrity” for following the law. “Planned Parenthood and its affiliates are engaged in a pattern of practices designed to maximize their bottom-line revenues through billings to complex, well-funded federal and state programs that are understaffed and rely on the integrity of the provider for program compliance.”

“In light of the now-established fact that nearly one in four Planned Parenthood businesses have been implicated in financial fraud or mismanagement, Congress has an opportunity — and obligation — to protect taxpayers,” ADF senior counsel Steven H. Aden concluded. “Congress should do what the House of Representatives has twice voted to do: end taxpayer funding to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s most profitable abortionist, once and for all.”

Charlotte Lozier Institute president Chuck Donovan agrees. “The extent of waste and abuse in the nation’s family planning programs, and specifically in those operated by Planned Parenthood, is beyond disturbing,” he said. “This report joins earlier findings on issues of human trafficking, failure to report statutory rape, alleged violations of fetal organ trafficking laws, and other profound concerns that reinforce the need for Congress to reallocate funds to agencies that respect human life and put women first.”

The ADF-CLI report recommended to Congress that representatives complete their investigations into the multi-billion dollar abortion business, and in particular find out if Planned Parenthood is “double-dipping” by billing tax-funded Medicaid for “services” that other programs or individuals are already paying for.

The report also recommends that Congress “empower auditors and state Medicaid Fraud Control Units to investigate, prosecute, and recover overbilling” by abortion businesses nationwide.

Additionally, the report urges legislators to update state False Claims Act laws according to the guidelines of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General to encourage legitimate whistleblowers to come forward.

Alliance Defending Freedom is a non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.