In the past fifteen years, Planned Parenthood has donated at least $25 million to Democratic lawmakers. A FoxNews.com analysis found that the abortion company has given money to Democrats through their employees, political action committees and through soft money donors.
In fact, every Democrat that has voted against defunding Planned Parenthood since 2000 has received a financial contribution from their organization. For example, Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) have received more than $30,000 from Planned Parenthood since 2002; and Senator Jeanne Shaheen, (D-New Hampshire) received $38,449 during the same time period. Jeanne Zaino, a political science professor in New York, told Fox News, “These types of contributions — any contributions — to public officials are important and they do sway votes.”
Earlier this month, Senate Democrats defeated legislation to defund Planned Parenthood and redistribute their funding to legitimate health care clinics. The vote was 53-46 on the cloture motion — failing to get the 60 votes needed to stop the Democratic filibuster against the de-funding measure. Although the vote was an improvement from a similar 2011 vote, only two Democrats in the upper chamber voted to defund Planned Parenthood.
Zaino said the following about the Senate vote: “Anytime we are analyzing a vote we always have to follow the money trail and this case is no exception. There is no question that the vote on Monday was tied to the contributions these senators have received from the Planned Parenthood SuperPacs and related individual donors.”
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Additionally, Planned Parenthood has spent over $12 million in lobbying efforts in the United States since the early 2000’s. James Lankford (R-Oklahoma) said, “Their donation priorities demonstrate that, obviously, Planned Parenthood knows who will support their agenda no matter what. I am hopeful that the senators who voted against redirecting Planned Parenthood taxpayer funding will listen to the millions of people around the nation that are mortified that their hard-earned money is being used to facilitate the trafficking of children’s body parts. Federal funding for Planned Parenthood shouldn’t be a partisan or lobbying issue.”
As LifeNews previously reported, the Clinton family has received over $67,000 from Planned Parenthood during their political careers, and Hillary received nearly $12,000 from their employees specifically for her presidential campaign. Interestingly, one of Hillary’s donations came from the CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains (PPRM), Vicki Cowart.
Cowart’s affiliate is featured in two videos released by the Center of Medical Progress showing Planned Parenthood executives haggling over the price of babies victimized in abortion. In one video, PPRM’s Medical Director, Dr. Savita Ginde explains how affiliates can get around laws that ban selling aborted babies for compensation. She says, “Putting it under ‘research’ gives us a little bit of an overhang over the whole thing. If you have someone in a really anti state who’s going to be doing this for you, they’re probably going to get caught.”
Democratic senators from so-called “red” states also have received sizable donations from Planned Parenthood PACs and supporters. Since 2006, Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., has received a little more than $26,000; Jon Tester, D-Mont., $19,000 and Heidi Heitkamp, D-S.D., has received $5,300.
Some current and former Planned Parenthood employees donated more than $100,000 to mostly Democrat-supported candidates and causes. Aimee Boone Cunningham, of Austin, Texas, donated a total of $233,000 to the Super PAC Planned Parenthood Votes, Democratic congressional candidates and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee between 2012 and 2014. According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, she was most recently the vice president of development of Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas. She also has been the deputy director of the Texas Democratic Trust and the deputy executive director/finance director of the Texas Democratic Party.
Alexandria Marcus of San Francisco worked for Planned Parenthood intermittently between 2005-2010 and donated $132,500 to the Democratic Campaign Committee, the DNC Services Corp. and Democratic candidates including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and President Obama during that time. She has served as associate vice president of public affairs for Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, the largest affiliate in the country, and as director of Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte and of two Planned Parenthood political action committees and political campaigns.
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