Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and 40 other senators came to the defense of Planned Parenthood again this week.
The billion-dollar abortion chain is facing criticism for taking more than $80 million in coronavirus aid meant for struggling small businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
This week, in a letter to the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration (SBA), Schumer and pro-abortion Democrat lawmakers slammed the Trump administration for demanding that Planned Parenthood return the funds, ABC News reports.
Schumer claimed the SBA is advancing an “ideologically-driven agenda” to “score political points for this administration by attacking nonprofit health care providers,” according to Politico.
“[T]he administration’s longstanding campaign against reproductive health generally, and Planned Parenthood specifically, strongly suggests that Planned Parenthood is being arbitrarily singled out amongst over 4.3 million loans that have been issued under this program,” the letter continued.
Planned Parenthood was not eligible for the funds, but it got them anyway somehow, and pro-life Republican lawmakers have demanded an investigation. According to ABC News, the Small Business Administration told at least three Planned Parenthood affiliates to return the funds.
In another letter last week, Republican U.S. senators said Planned Parenthood was not eligible for the funds and the abortion chain knew it.
“These Planned Parenthood entities self-certified eligibility for these loans despite the clear ineligibility under the statutory text …” the pro-life Republicans wrote. “It was also well-publicized at the time that the CARES Act did not allow Planned Parenthood affiliates to utilize these loans.”
“Most damningly,” the senators pointed to a statement by Planned Parenthood’s own political arm slamming the PPP for giving “the Small Business Administration broad discretion to exclude Planned Parenthood affiliates … under the new small business loan program.”
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According to the Christian Post, businesses and non-profits with more than 500 employees are not eligible for the PPP funds, and Planned Parenthood employs more than that. However, it exploited the funding package by applying through local affiliates that employ fewer than 500 people.
Planned Parenthood has insisted that it did nothing wrong.
“Like many other local nonprofits and health care providers, some independent Planned Parenthood 501(c)(3) organizations applied for and were awarded loans under the eligibility rules established by the CARES Act and the Small Business Administration, which they met,” said Jacqueline Ayers, Planned Parenthood vice president of government relations and public policy, in a statement.
Ayers trashed the Trump administration, claiming this is just another attack on women and Planned Parenthood.
The Trump administration also is demanding Planned Parenthood return the funds, and it may file criminal charges against employees of the abortion giant if they lied on the applications for funding.
Meanwhile, some Planned Parenthood facilities advertised being open for “abortion services only” during the pandemic.
Planned Parenthood did nearly 346,000 abortions last year while reaping in $1.6 billion in revenue. It has been accused of discriminating against its pregnant employees, defrauding Medicaid and selling aborted baby body parts.
