A recent article, published by Faith Magazine in the UK and written by Keith Riler, offers further insight into the Planned Parenthood abortion machine.
If recent whistleblower lawsuits are true, Planned Parenthood may be engaged in a systemic effort to access taxpayer funding for the abortions it commits. Such an effort would be illegal, but would explain the unusually high correlation between Planned Parenthood’s abortions and its government funding. A summary of the full article follows.
Most often the simplest answer is the true one. If recent claims made by the Alliance Defending Freedom (“ADF”) and the American Center for Law and Justice (“ACLJ”) are accurate, the simple answer solves a prior mystery.
Strong Taxpayer-Abortion Link. A startlingly high correlation between Planned Parenthood’s abortions and its government funding was documented earlier this year:
Planned Parenthood’s abortions are very highly positively correlated with the amount of government funds received by the company, at 99% correlation. … These results contradict the oft-heard wisdom that Planned Parenthood’s government support is unrelated to its abortion business. At 99% correlation, Planned Parenthood’s government funding and abortions are statistically one and the same.
Although the earlier work highlighted the unusually high 99% correlation (social scientists get excited over mere 60-70% correlations), it deferred offering an explanation.
Now, An Explanation? We may now have a straightforward answer. A recent lawsuit, brought by a former Planned Parenthood manager and the ADF, alleges that Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast (PPGC):
[F]iled at least 87,075 false, fraudulent, or ineligible claims with the Texas Women’s Health Program. As a result, Planned Parenthood wrongfully received and retained reimbursements totaling more than $5.7 million.
Paragraphs 80-106 of the lawsuit are particularly informative and suggest that Planned Parenthood is a profit seeking entity, offering a lethal product and fraudulently billing for it. Paragraph 93 explains:
Planned Parenthood…presented false, fraudulent and ineligible claims to the United States, the State of Texas … by making an additional false notation reflecting a family planning purpose….
An earlier case, brought in California by a former financial officer, makes comparable claims. And a more recent case brought in Iowa by a clinic manager echoed the California claims. Finally, detailed allegations (paragraphs 22-35) are made in a fourth case, also brought by a former employee:
PPGC also trained its employees to create fraudulent and misleading patient chart entries so as to obtain reimbursement for services for which WHP and Medicaid would otherwise not allow payment. One notable example of this practice relates to PPGC policies for obtaining payment for abortion-related services. WHP, Medicaid, and some other government programs do not allow payment for abortion-related services including “follow-up visits” after an elective abortion procedure. The following is a direct quote from a staff meeting memorandum given to clinic employees January 22, 2009:
POST AB[ORTION] VISITS:
We must work these clients in! This visit is self-pay. Quote the self-pay price then ask if she needs any other services such as birth control. If she is interested, screen for WHP or Title XX and offer the WWE [Well Woman Exam]. If the client is getting on birth control make this the focus of the visit and put a note in the chief complaints that the client had a surgical or medical abortion “x” weeks ago.
If Planned Parenthood in fact defrauded taxpayers using “Post AB Visits,” then the correlation between Planned Parenthood’s abortions and government payments should be high because “post AB visits” must follow ABs (abortions). Statistically, it is hard to imagine a 99% correlation between Planned Parenthood’s abortions and its government funding could reflect anything but a sustained and concerted effort. Such an effort would be illegal in many ways.
Fraud = 99% Correlation = $1,522 per Life? These lawsuits describe just such a widespread and concerted effort. Allegedly, Planned Parenthood sought government funding for abortions by instead billing for fictitious services – which billing would substantially increase Planned Parenthood’s revenue per aborted head. When the 99% correlation is properly considered, Planned Parenthood’s per head abortion realizations increase to $1,522 per life, or $501.4 million in 2010.
Taxpayer Funding – More Correlated with Abortion than Contraception. The earlier analysis also observed that Planned Parenthood’s government funding correlated more strongly with its abortions (at R=99%) than with its contraception activities (although still strong, at R=77%-83%). Given that government payments are supposedly contraception-related, one would expect the contraception-funding correlation to have been highest. Not so.
The information alleged in the lawsuits could explain the shortfall. If Planned Parenthood was both distributing contraception legitimately and fraudulently (really just overbilling for abortion), then inflated billings would skew the connection between contraception and government funding.
Conclusion. In summary, earlier analysis highlighted the very unusual 99% positive correlation between government funding and Planned Parenthood’s abortions. This correlation is statistically rare, but the fraud described in the numerous lawsuits could explain it. The mystery may be solved, making a simple explanation the true one – “Planned Parenthood improperly sought reimbursement from the government for abortion-related services.”[i]
Although unproven, the multitude and consistency of employee whistle-blowing is eye opening. The old adage there’s no honor among thieves is a reflection of the broader truth that you can’t practice vice virtuously. Don’t be surprised if those who permanently render babies lifeless might also lie, cheat and steal.
On a final note, by implementing $1/month abortions, Obamacare has upended longstanding law prohibiting the use of taxpayer money for abortions, by requiring that taxpayers fund abortions through private pay insurance. Now we and aborting moms pay $1, with insurance companies paying the balance (about $500), all of which Planned Parenthood receives for each abortion. If cell phones became ubiquitous once made cheaper, imagine what will happen with $1-abortions. Obamacare thus moves Planned Parenthood into the legitimate unfettered flow of taxpayer money by replacing one middleman, the US government, with another, private pay insurance companies. Is it any wonder Planned Parenthood just purchased $1.4 million in Barack Obama re-election ads.
LifeNews Note: Keith Riler is a financial analyst who has been a director of private and public companies. Under this pen-name he is an occasional writer for the daily internet publication The American Thinker, Faith Magazine, Texas Right to Life and LifeNews.
