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Planned Parenthood Taxpayer Funding: An Update

By Jim Sedlak

At the request of members of Congress, the United States General Accounting office issued two reports in the last eight months on taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood and similar organizations. The first report, Health Care Funding: Federal Obligations to and Funds Received by Certain Organizations Involved in Health-Related Services, 2016 through 2018, was publicly released in January 2021. The second, Planned Parenthood Federation of America Affiliates’ Expenditures of Federal Funds, 2016 through 2018, was publicly released in July 2021.

This week we bring you highlights from these reports. Since the reports cover three years, we will use the average funds per year to make our analysis easier to follow and understand. We will also focus on the data from Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its affiliates (the first report also includes Federally Qualified Health Centers, Marie Stopes International, and the International Planned Parenthood Federation).

The GAO identified three major sources of taxpayer funds going to Planned Parenthood:

  1. Grants and cooperative agreements—$30.7 million
  2. Medicare—$1.4 million
  3. Medicaid and CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program) —$429.7 million

Thus, the total average per year is $461.8 million.

This number may appear small to you, as Planned Parenthood reported receiving an average of $554 million in taxpayer money per year in those three years. The approximate $90 million difference can be explained by additional state or city monies going to Planned Parenthood that the GAO did not count.

We need to note, as the GAO did, that the $461.8 million it reported was not all federal money. As the GAO stated, “Medicare payments include only federal funds. Medicaid and CHIP payments include funding from both state and federal sources; thus, the Medicaid and CHIP payment data overstates the amount of funding received from the federal government. The actual amounts of Medicaid and CHIP payments from the federal government to PPFA affiliates are lower than amounts presented in the table, and would be limited to a matching percentage, which differs across states and types of services provided. Data are based on a 12-month fiscal year, which may vary by affiliate.”

The GAO broke down the data by Planned Parenthood affiliates. The full list is in the report. Regarding the grants and cooperative agreements, the five affiliates that received the most in this category were Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands; Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota; Planned Parenthood of Central and Greater Northern New Jersey; Planned Parenthood Mid and South Michigan; and Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio.

The top five recipients of Medicare funds were Planned Parenthood Mar Monte; Planned Parenthood of Central and Western New York, Inc.; Planned Parenthood Northern California; Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, Inc.; and Planned Parenthood of Northern New England.

Finally, the top five recipients of Medicaid funds were all from California: Planned Parenthood Mar Monte; Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest, Inc.; Planned Parenthood of Orange & San Bernardino Counties, Inc.; Planned Parenthood Los Angeles; and Planned Parenthood Northern California.

The second GAO report looked specifically at which federal government programs were the source of funding for Planned Parenthood affiliates. The top five Department of Health and Human Services programs that accounted for 88 percent of DHHS monies to PPFA were:

  1. Family Planning Services (CFDA #: 93.217), Office of Population Affairs—$60.7 million
  2. Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Program (CFDA #: 93.297), Immediate Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services—$7.2 million
  3. Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant to the States (CFDA #: 93.994), Health Resources and Services Administration—$5.2 million
  4. Affordable Care Act Personal Responsibility Education Program (CFDA #: 93.092), Administration for Children and Families—$3.4 million
  5. Social Services Block Grant (CFDA #: 93.667), Administration for Children and Families—$2.9 million

The other major funding program is the WIC program from the US Department of Agriculture: WIC Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (CFDA #: 10.557). Planned Parenthood affiliates receive $3.2 million annually from this program.

Clearly, Planned Parenthood is receiving a great deal of government money. These GAO reports give insight into how much that is, which Planned Parenthood affiliates are getting the most money, and what programs are providing funding.

We encourage everyone to use this data to focus on shutting off these funding streams to the nation’s largest abortion chain and the largest stealer of souls of our children.

Jim Sedlak is executive director of American Life League, founder of STOPP International, and host of a weekly talk show on the Radio Maria Network. He has been successfully fighting Planned Parenthood since 1985.