When Stop Planned Parenthood International (STOPP) started in 1985, the man who had the brilliant idea could not fathom all that it would take to expose the ruthless tactics of Planned Parenthood. But he did know one thing—he had to try. In the 25 years since its inception, Jim Sedlak has done a phenomenal job helping grass-roots Americans from one end of this country to the other use their “Parent Power” to expose the grisly truth about Planned Parenthood.
But the real source of Planned Parenthood’s ongoing ability to deceive, destroy and denigrate young people, as well as their preborn babies, remains unmoved by Sedlak’s mission. An abundant stream of money to fund its services comes from the federal government. As we learn from the Wednesday STOPP Report, which goes to activists in the pro-life community and beyond every week, Planned Parenthood’s snout is filled to overflowing every year with an increasing amount of our tax dollars. The amounts have never gone down—always up—even under the apparently lazy eye of so-called pro-life presidents like George Bush and Ronald Reagan.
Right now, for those who are counting, Planned Parenthood receives in excess of $350 million and, under Obama, may get even more! So what’s the problem here?
How is it that STOPP, along with many allies around the nation, can expose Planned Parenthood facilities, shut them down, get them out of the schools and work all manner of minor miracles, yet the federal government remains comatose? The answer lies in a bureaucracy of federal employees and special appointees handpicked by Planned Parenthood in the smoke-filled backrooms of Congress.
Our STOPP team is redoubling its work to stop government funding of Planned Parenthood. Studying a small mountain of Planned Parenthood affiliates’ federal forms 990 and annual reports, it discovered some very disturbing trends.
For instance, Planned Parenthood of New York City’s 2008 annual report shows it had to repay $1.48 million to Medicaid due to overbilling. Add Planned Parenthood of New York City to the list of Planned Parenthood affiliates that have recently been exposed gobbling up obscene amounts of taxpayer money through improper Medicaid billing—including offices in New Jersey, California and Washington state—and you will see a picture emerging of an organization that has established a pattern of improperly billing Medicaid in order to get even more taxpayer money.
Our STOPP team is working diligently behind the scenes to expose Planned Parenthood’s lack of accountability for its use of federal funds, and to ensure the cessation of the flow of federal funds into the coffers of Planned Parenthood.
If it sounds like we’re a bit disconcerted by the fifty years of slumber experienced by politicians on the Washington, D.C. side of the Potomac, then you understand our frustration. But we hope that you also understand that we will never give up on our efforts to stop the ebb and flow of our tax money from funding the scurrilous activities of this nation’s number-one promoter of the murder of preborn babies—an organization that also destroys the souls of our children.
Sedlak’s right arm, STOPP’s director Rita Diller, recently explained in a Washington Times commentary what we already knew, what the public needs to know and what every responsible elected official should be using to pull the plug out of that trough:
If Planned Parenthood—a tax-exempt organization bankrolled to a staggering extent by the government—won’t hand over its internal audits or let the public know the details of its operations, our government should stop handing over the taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars to the organization. With 40 percent of Planned Parenthood‘s customers abandoning it every year, the organization is a sinking ship.
Now is the time! STOPP has the momentum! Let the skewering of the pig begin.