WASHINGTON, D.C., March 27, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) – U.S. federal and state taxpayers sent nearly $1.5 billion to Planned Parenthood and five other groups that promote abortion and population control between 2010 and 2012, according to a federal watchdog report.
The report was released to the public on Wednesday in response to a request by more than 70 members of Congress.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) provided an update to a 2010 report on funding provided to Advocates for Youth, Guttmacher Institute, International Planned Parenthood Federation, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Population Council, and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS).
The report examined federal funding for the organizations — including those dollars furnished through state offices, such as Medicaid funding — as well as how the groups spent the money.
The GAO examined a total of $19 billion sent to, and $10 billion spent by, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs).
Approximately $107 million of the direct federal funding for the six groups came from the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). Another $128 million for Population Council and Planned Parenthood came from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Pro-life politicians and organizations were outraged by the report.
“Planned Parenthood—Child Abuse Incorporated—is responsible for killing more than six million unborn children, and it is unconscionable that this organization continues to be subsidized by the American taxpayer,” said Congressman Chris Smith, R-NJ.
Kansas Republican Congressman Tim Huelskamp said that “16 months ago, I joined 71 fellow members of Congress to demand a Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation into how Planned Parenthood, the largest abortionist in the world, uses our tax dollars. Last week, GAO finally completed their investigation and confirmed much of what we already knew – massive amounts of taxpayer dollars are being pocketed by a group that is snuffing out the lives of nearly 900 babies every day.”
Huelskamp added that Planned Parenthood is “rife with abuses, including fraudulent Medicaid claims, cover-up of rape and incest, and violations of the Hyde Amendment.”
Concerned Women for America President Penny Nance said “it is reprehensible” that “with a debt topping $17 trillion this year,” taxpayers are funding abortion.
The Family Research Council's Arina Grossu touted the report as evidence of “the Obama administration [being committed] to advancing a pro-abortion agenda” that “has placed the demands of abortion advocates and providers at the top of its public health agenda for six years, all the expense of taxpayers.”
“Unborn children have no standing in the current administration's eyes, and the effects of abortion on their mothers is inconsequential to the Obama administration,” said Grossu.
The GAO found that a total of $236 million was spent on the six groups in the three years, and $482 million was spent by the groups during that time period. The $482 million includes funds from other agencies, and some of it was appropriated in years outside of the three-year window analyzed by GAO.
An additional $1.2 billion was spent on Planned Parenthood affiliates through partnered state and federal programs.
The GAO's Director of Health Care, Dr. Marcia G. Crosse, told LifeSiteNews that “we are not able to differentiate what portion of that funding is federal, and what portion is state funds. And the contributions to those programs vary by state.”
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She also said that of the six groups, only Planned Parenthood provided actual medical services, among them abortion.
She said that none of the FQHCs were required to report whether they conducted abortions.
