WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler (MO-04), Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) responded to the public release of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report which revealed that over the course of three years (FY2016-FY2018) nearly $2 billion in taxpayer dollars went to three abortion advocacy groups: Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), Marie Stopes International (MSI), and International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).
The GAO report also examined four regional abortion providers: Family Planning Associates, American Women’s Services, All Women’s Health Center, and Whole Woman’s Health. Three of these regional providers confirmed receiving a portion of this funding.
“This GAO report shows a disturbing and shameful trend where our federal government spends its taxpayer money funding and subsidizing Planned Parenthood and other abortion giants, all while destroying human dignity with every life lost,” Rep. Hartzler said.“We must end this horrific misuse of taxpayer funds, work to divert the $1.8 billion away from pro-abortion groups, and find real, equitable opportunities benefiting women and children that the American people actually support.”
“At my request, the Government Accountability Office provided federal funding amounts for abortion providers like Planned Parenthood over the course of three years,” Sen. Blackburn said. “It is unconscionable that taxpayer money inevitably finds its way to abortion providers that promote the killing of unborn children. Such misappropriation is an atrocity and exposes the critical need to promote the pro-life agenda.”
“The findings of the GAO report are disgraceful: large abortion corporations received a whopping $1.8 billion in federal taxpayer dollars in just 3 years,” Rep. Smith said. “This taxpayer funding is subsidizing an entire industry that is committed to performing and promoting the killing of unborn children. Recent national polling reaffirms that 60% of Americans do not want their tax dollars subsidizing abortion. The American people are not fooled by accounting tricks; they know that, when the government forks over $1.8 billion to the abortion industry, taxpayers are in essence subsidizing its whole business. Taxpayer dollars should be used to provide genuine, life-affirming health care, not used to pad the budgets of organizations that are using other funds to kill unborn children.”
The GAO report, which was released on Thursday, January 21, 2021, stemmed from a request for up-to-date information Reps. Hartzler, Smith, and Sen. Blackburn submitted to GAO in 2019.
Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, received approximately $1.6 billion in governmental funding over the three-year period reviewed. Of this amount, approximately $304 million came through federal grants and cooperative agreements, while the majority of this funding was in the form of Medicaid and other reimbursements to the abortion industry ($1.3 billion). Current federal law prohibits federal funding of abortions but has no limitation on funding abortion providers. This GAO report provides an accurate record of the nearly $2 billion in taxpayer funding which continues to support and facilitate the abortion business in the United States and around the world.