A little over a week ago, Arizona joined a growing number of states in defunding America’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood.
As a report by American’s United for Life noted:
House Bill 2800, signed by Governor Jan Brewer . . . , provides that neither the state nor any political subdivision of the state “may . . . enter into a contract with or make a grant to” abortion providers for family-planning services. Further, “subject to any applicable requirements of federal law, regulations or guidelines,” the law establishes a priority system for entities that may receive family-planning funding.
Arizona joins at least 14 states that have laws prohibiting or placing restrictions on the allocation of family-planning funding to abortion providers. In 2011, ten states took new action to withhold family-planning funding, legislatively or administratively, from abortion providers. While at least four of these laws are presently in litigation, many lawmakers across the country are undeterred from their mission to better protect women and unborn children in their states.
After all, it is not surprising that the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, and its supporters are not sitting quietly while their taxpayer “gravy train” is derailed.
Just how extensive is that taxpayer “gravy train”? Nearly half of the abortion giant’s annual billion-dollar budget comes from taxpayer funds. The ACLJ’s Director of Government Affairs, Thann Bennett, broke it down this way:
First, the current annual report (fiscal year 2009-2010) shows $487.4 million from “government health services grants and reimbursements.” In other words, $487.4 million of American taxpayer money. When compared to the 2008-2009 annual report, which showed $363.2 million in “government grants and contracts,” it would appear that Planned Parenthood received an astonishing $124.2 million increase in taxpayer funding over the course of just one year. However, the real reason for this drastic increase may be even worse.
The real reason for this huge change is because this is the first year that Planned Parenthood has disclosed the amount it has received from services covered by Medicaid. Up until this year, Planned Parenthood was listing this revenue as “health center income.” It’s hard to believe that this was anything short of a strategic public relations strategy to minimize the visible burden on the taxpayers that Planned Parenthood has become. After all, the two line items appear one after the other in the report, and I don’t think anyone would try to make the argument that Medicaid isn’t a “government reimbursement.” The bottom line is that Planned Parenthood has been less than forthcoming about the extent to which the taxpayers are funding their abortion business. . . .
So, what did our taxpayer dollars really pay for? Are we really supposed to believe that a billion dollar organization that takes nearly half a billion dollars from taxpayers doesn’t use that money to support the 332,278 abortions it performs? The suggestion is so ludicrous that it’s offensive. Of course American taxpayers are funding abortions when we send Planned Parenthood half a billion dollars.
The ACLJ is taking action, defending the right of a state to defund Planned Parenthood.
LifeNews Note: Matthew Clark writes for the American Center for Law and Justice.
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