A confluence of interesting headlines too strong to be denied! That is how we describe the most recent spate of media discussion over the ever-controversial Planned Parenthood, its abuse of taxpayer dollars, and its ongoing deceptive tactics involving expectant mothers and sexual abusers.
All the furor stems from a remarkable action taken by Congressman Cliff Stearns, chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Stearns wrote a forthright letter to the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. In it, he set forth a series of eight requests for which he expects professional responses from the world’s leading proponent of sexual freedom without responsibility.
Among the eight demands set forth in the letter, we find demands 6 through 8,
6. Please provide a summary of how PPFA detects criminal conduct and the policies and procedures in place to prevent it or report it.
7. Please provide the policies and procedures PPFA and its affiliates have in place to ensure that all Planned Parenthood clinics report all cases of suspected sexual abuse, including statutory rape, to the proper authorities.
8. Please provide the policies and procedures PPFA and its affiliates have in place to ensure that suspected sex trafficking is reported to the proper authorities.
The backstory makes this significant step by Congressman Stearns very important and gratifying. As our STOPP national director, Rita Diller, wrote in the latest Wednesday STOPP Report,
In June of 2010, STOPP broke the news of Planned Parenthood’s missing millions in the Washington Times. The information we gleaned in the course of our investigation made it clear that Planned Parenthood had refused to turn over its internal audits to the Government Accountability Office, forcing the GAO to rely on publicly available records to conduct its investigation into the abortion giant’s receipt and expenditure of government monies.
The GAO report raised more questions than it answered. Relying on publicly available information, the GAO was able to account for Planned Parenthood’s expenditure of just $657.1 million between 2002 and 2008 from federal government grants and programs, but the abortion behemoth’s own annual reports show that it took in $2.3 billion from government grants and programs during the same time period. That’s not pocket change. We raised the question at the time: Why the discrepancy?
Since then, American Life League has been calling for Planned Parenthood to release its internal audits.
On Sept. 15, 2011, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce launched an investigation of Planned Parenthood. The letter requests, among other items, “all internal audit reports conducted by PPFA and its affiliates from 1998 to 2010. If not clearly indicated in the audit reports, please detail how much PPFA and each affiliate expended and received in Title XIX Medicaid funding, Title X family planning funding, and any other federal funding.”
The letter also requests accountability from the abortion giant regarding improper billing and overbilling; segregation of federal monies from its abortion business; audits by state agencies that are not publicly available; information on PP facilities that receive Title X funds and commit or refer for abortion; documentation of how PP detects, prevents, and reports criminal conduct; and procedures and policies to ensure that all cases of suspected sexual abuse and sex trafficking are reported.
Planned Parenthood’s president has reacted in precisely the way we would have suspected. She has “launched a petition against the Committee, telling supporters that ‘you know as well as I do that this isn’t about fiscal responsibility.’”
As reported in LifeSiteNews.com, “‘This is about harassment and intimidation of America’s leading provider and advocate of women’s health care,’ said Richards in a mass e-mail Tuesday. ‘[Rep. Stearns] is grasping for something, anything, he can use to discredit, damage, or destroy Planned Parenthood.’”
The truth is coming out and Richards is shaking in her incriminating and slimy boots. Finally people in government are searching for the truth behind the Planned Parenthood veil of respectability. Richards cannot provide facts to support her organization’s shenanigans so she stoops to name calling. How very, very predictable.
Stay tuned, as this is just the beginning of perhaps the biggest story in the history of doing away with killing the preborn by deconstructing the world’s leading architect of the culture of death. See the items below to find out what you can do to help.
ACTION:
Thank Congressman Stearns for is fair-minded, long-awaited investigation into Planned Parenthood’s practices http://stearns.house.gov/.
Contact your member of Congress and your Senators, telling them you expect stalwart, public support for
Congressman Stearns and his committee: http://stopplannedparenthood.com/build-letter/.
Sign the petition to defund Planned Parenthood: http://www.stopplannedparenthoodtaxfunding.com/.
