Colorado County Cuts Thousands in Funding for Planned Parenthood

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Dec 18, 2012   |   6:42PM   |   Glenwood Springs, CO

County commissioners in Garfield County, Colorado voted 2-1 yesterday to cut $5,000 in funding for the Planned Parenthood abortion business.

As one local newspaper reported:

“This is one that I just have to take a stand on,” Commission Chairman John Martin said in calling into question a continued Planned Parenthood grant that was recommended by the county’s Human Services Commission.

“They’re a big national organization, and I think they have enough outside resources without using money that could benefit some of the local organizations whose budgets are smaller,” Martin said. “I understand they do a good job … this is not an insult. I just think they need to stand on their own.”

The Planned Parenthood grant was just one of more than $430,000 in human service grants recommended to the commissioners for next year. The grants come from a dedicated human services sales tax fund approved by county voters several years ago.

Matthew Clark, an attorney with the pro-life legal group ACLJ says governments have the right to nix Planned Parenthood.

“States all across America are enacting laws preventing Planned Parenthood and other abortion business from receiving our tax dollars. Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion business in America, has responded by filing numerous lawsuits demanding taxpayer funding and even asserting that they have a “constitutional right” to our tax dollars,” he said

“The ACLJ has filed amicus briefs in several of these cases defending the right of states to defund the abortion industry. In one of these cases, a federal appellate court ruled that a Texas law defunding Planned Parenthood could go into effect,” Clark added. “In another case, the court agreed with the ACLJ that there is no constitutional right to taxpayer funding for abortion businesses. Each of these cases are important in our fight to defund the abortion industry and save the lives of countless unborn babies.”

Last year, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) released its latest Annual Report for 2009-2010. The report indicates PPFA had a total budget of $1.04 billion and  an excess of revenue over expenses of 18.5 million dollars — a net profit. The new report also reveals 46 percent of the total PPFA budget comes from taxpayer dollars in the form of government funding.

The report also breaks down the “services” Planned Parenthood offers in addition to abortions. Planned Parenthood has always come under fire from pro-life groups for doing hundreds of thousands of abortions by providing little in the way of help for pregnant woman wanting to keep their baby or considering adoption. The new report shows that hasn’t changed.

The new document the abortion organization posted shows Planned Parenthood did 329,445 abortions in 2010 while it provided prenatal care to only 31,098 women and referred only 841 women to adoption agencies.

The number of women receiving prenatal care dropped significantly from 2009 to 2010, as the abortion business helped 40,489 women in 2009 — meaning almost 10,000 fewer women received prenatal support from Planned Parenthood last year than the year prior, or a drop of almost 25 percent.

The number of women getting adoption referrals also declined — from a low 977 in 2009 to 841 last year, or a decline of 14 percent.

Examined another way Planned Parenthood does 391 abortions for every adoption referral it makes and almost 11 abortions for every woman it helps with prenatal care.

CLICK LIKE IF YOU’RE PRO-LIFE!

 

The trend at Planned Parenthood has been for its non-abortion services for pregnant women to decline while its number of abortions performed has increased. The 2009 annual report Planned Parenthood released earlier this year showed a 25 percent drop in prenatal care clients and a whopping 59 percent decline in adoption referrals from the 2,405 adoption referrals in 2008.

Planned Parenthood’s own records now show 5,364,540 surgical and medical abortions done at Planned Parenthood centers from 1970 through the end of 2009.

ACTION: Thank the commission by going to https://www.garfield-county.com/board-commissioners/index.aspx