At the annual Planned Parenthood Action Fund Conference held in Washington D.C. recently, abortion rights advocates enthusiastically cheered proposals to include abortion services in universal health care coverage.  While Concerned Women for America (CWA) and like-minded Americans rightly oppose this idea, taxpayer funding for abortion providers is already occurring.  In an attempt to stop this reality, Rep. Mike Pence (R-Indiana) recently sponsored an amendment aimed at prohibiting certain federal funds from being given to Planned Parenthood.

As the largest abortion service in the United States, Planned Parenthood performed 264,943 abortions in 2006; in the process, Planned Parenthood took in income of almost $900 million dollars. Of this massive figure, nearly one-third ($300 million dollars) came from government grants and contracts, with a large portion stemming from funds allocated under the federal Title X Family Planning Program.  Although federal law prohibits Planned Parenthood from using federal funds directly for the practice of abortion, this funding still assists Planned Parenthood with their overall operational expenses.  In classic shell game style, this monetary assistance frees up more of Planned Parenthood’s resources to be directed towards actual abortion procedures, thus making the federal government an indirect sponsor of abortion.

The Labor, Health, and Human Services Appropriations Bill (H.R. 3043) passed by the U.S. House of Representatives increases funding for Planned Parenthood to $80 million dollars under the FY2008 funds for the Title X Family Planning Program (an increase of $15 million from last year’s $65 million dollars).  Rep. Pence introduced an amendment to this bill aimed at halting particular funding for Planned Parenthood.  Regrettably, this amendment later failed on the House floor in a 189-231 vote.  In introducing his amendment, Rep. Pence distinguished between his support for clinics that legitimately help families and support for Planned Parenthood clinics that promote and provide abortions:

There is little doubt we will hear some Planned Parenthood apologists proclaim the obvious — that Title X funds may not be used for abortion.  We will hear that this amendment would cut family planning efforts.  The truth is that my amendment does not cut or reduce the budget for family planning in this appropriations bill.  It simply prevents the appropriated funds from reaching an organization which profits from the abortion trade.

Rep. Pence also reminded Congress of documented abuses occurring at Planned Parenthood clinics in states such as Ohio and California.  The abuses — in which Planned Parenthood clinicians broke state law by failing to report instances of statutory rape or sexual molestation to state officials — serve as examples of further reasons not to provide federal funding for Planned Parenthood. (To read more about abuses which have occurred at Planned Parenthood clinics, click here.)

In light of such abuses, the claim made by Planned Parenthood’s leadership that they desire to safeguard young women’s health rings false.  Indeed, their lauding of efforts to defeat “dangerous abortion bans” and to prevent life-friendly ballot initiatives which would “endanger vulnerable teens’ health and safety” reveals Planned Parenthood’s true purpose — to achieve unlimited and unrestricted abortion for all women facilitated by government compliance.

Rep. Pence’s intervention in the status-quo of government funding for abortion providers has re-ignited a needed discussion in Congress and across America over the government’s role in allocating funds to abortion providers.  For calling attention to the federal government’s tacit approval of Planned Parenthood, Rep. Pence receives CWA’s applause and many thanks. In his own words, “It’s time the American people know that the largest recipient of Title X funding in America is the largest abortion provider as well. It’s time to … keep taxpayer money out of the hands of Planned Parenthood.”

Leanna Baumer is an intern with Concerned Women for America’s Ronald Reagan Memorial Internship Program.