Abortion advocacy groups have extracted almost $10 million in legal fees from American taxpayers in the past four years, according to a recent investigation by the Washington Post.
These fees, from lawyers charging up to $400 per hour, came about after Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion groups won lawsuits against state pro-life laws, the Washington Examiner reports.
Pro-abortion groups often charge their attorneys’ fees to the taxpayers because “of a special provision that allows the courts to order reimbursement to people who successfully challenge laws that violate civil rights.”
Recent cases have resulted in up to $2.3 million payouts to Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights, which are among the largest abortion advocacy groups in America.
According to the Examiner:
The most recent reimbursement came from a federal judge in Texas who awarded $2.3 million to attorneys who blocked a new state law to limit abortions. The lawyers sought twice that much. After the state protested, a judge ordered a more “fair” amount be reimbursed, which still had attorneys making $400 per hour.
The law required Texas abortion facilities to meet basic health and safety standards, such as having an abortionist with hospital admitting privileges for patient emergencies.
Nicole Russell at the Examiner responded: “It’s tempting to blame these expenses on the anti-abortion movement. But it’s just an example of what happens when people realize something such as Roe v. Wade is wrong and try to fight back with little recourse until the [precedent] is changed.”
Abortion activists repeatedly have blamed pro-life advocates for wasting taxpayers’ money on these laws – even while they are taking the money out of taxpayers’ pockets.
Center for Reproductive Rights senior staff attorney Jenny Ma told the Washington Post that the money would be better spent on helping people. And Ma is correct, in a way.
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“The saddest part is that these states are spending hard-earned taxpayer money defending lawsuits, when they could be using those funds to support their citizens,” Ma said.
But the Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood, the ACLU and other abortion activists are the ones wasting taxpayers’ money. They continuously fight against laws that protect unborn babies and mothers and that most Americans support. Gallup polls consistently have found that a majority of Americans think all or most abortions should be illegal. In 2018, 53 percent of respondents said abortions should be legal in only a few (35 percent) or no circumstances (18 percent).
These groups could be spending their money to provide actual health care and fight for actual rights rather than subverting the will of the people by challenging common-sense abortion restrictions. Americans want abortions to be limited or eliminated. They want unborn babies’ rights to be protected, but Roe does not allow many restrictions. Until the current Supreme Court precedents are overturned, the billion-dollar abortion industry will continue fighting to keep the status quo and using taxpayers’ hard-earned money to do it.
