With Planned Parenthood being back in the news, I think it’s time for a reminder on the investigation by The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Colloquially called the “Planned Parenthood Oversight Investigation”.
First, some numbers.
The number of deaths from abortion in the US is on-par with the number killed during World War 2 (60 million).
Worldwide, it is estimated that nearly 1.5 billion babies have been aborted since 1980.
Planned Parenthood has contributed to nearly 8 million of these deaths while receiving federal taxpayer funds. $540.6 million in funds in just FY 2013, actually.
But they claimed that only 3% of their services were abortions. And they also claimed that the funds weren’t being used for abortion-related services. Were they being truthful?
The Planned Parenthood Oversight Investigation was done back in 2015 to “better understand the role of federal funding in Planned Parenthood operations.”
Additionally, the committee wanted to know what exactly the PP offered that medicaid or the ACA did not provide.
The investigation had a few key takeaways that we can use as reminders.
Planned Parenthood Oversight Investigation Takeaways
Noted here:
- Planned Parenthood does not need federal subsidies.
- Planned Parenthood is self-sustaining.
- Reported revenue of $1.3 billion in their most recent annual report.
- Reported $127 million in net income and reported holding $1.4 billion in assets for 2013-2014.
- Salaries at Planned Parenthood are lucrative.
- President Cecile Richards was paid more than $2.47 million from 2009 to 2013, including $590,928 in 2013.
- A significant number of Planned Parenthood executives earn in excess of $200,000 annually.
- Planned Parenthood spends millions on travel, galas and real estate.
- Spends nearly $14,000 a day on travel.
- Spent $34.8 million in 2011 to purchase corporate office space two blocks from Madison Square Garden.
- Taxpayer dollars subsidize Planned Parenthood’s political affiliates.
- Planned Parenthood’s claim that only “three percent” of all health services provided are abortion services is false.
- Over the last decade, cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood are declining while abortions are increasing.
- Numerous alternatives to Planned Parenthood exist.
The “3%” figure was entirely false. An interesting video is provided below where one of the committee members grills the Planned Parenthood Rep:
So much for the 3%. It was “legally” justifiable because they are only talking about their specific national location, that of which doesn’t regularly do abortions. That number did not include all of their locations.
The actual number, when looking at tax returns of the entirety of the Planned Parenthood locations, is somewhere between 16-28%.
Government Funds
The government funds come from a few different sources, including:
- $528 million of this revenue is from “government health services, grants, and reimbursements.” PP Revenue was $1.3 billion. This means government funding makes up 41 percent of Planned Parenthood’s revenues.
- PP is primarily supported by Medicaid funding. Of the $450 in federal funds, $390 million was through Medicaid.
This is important to note because when looking strictly at direct payments it makes it appear to be a much smaller number. However, all of this is taxpayer money, so all of it should be included in the calculations.
Also important to note:
- Planned Parenthood is a political organization. They have given the Planned Parenthood Action Fund a total of $21,567,629 in grants over just five years. And also has given nearly 1.1 million in grants to other 501(c)’s.
This is important because Planned Parenthood was legally a 501(c)(3), which means it is restricted in the amount of lobbying it can do as a non-profit.
However, the action fund is a 501(c)(4), which is not limited in lobbying.
So they simply transfer the money to their lobbying arm to get around the laws of 501(c)(3).
Much of this money didn’t even go to healthcare lobbying, a sizeable contribution went to a redistricting campaign.
Even worse yet:
- Listed as “program services, reproductive health” “grants” and “investment,” most reported transactions do not contain a description of the purpose of the grant or type of service to be rendered.
We had no idea where that money was going too. And some of it is obviously taxpayer funded.
Rep. Jordan
Representative Jordan is a beast and killed it. Watch the video to understand how the Planned Parenthood lobbying scheme worked:
What Changed?
So after this investigation came to a conclusion, and the absolute insanity that is PP was exposed, what did they change?
Planned Parenthood announced that it will no longer accept reimbursements to cover the costs of fetal tissue donations
Yeah, that’s it.
The political lobbying and money-switching between 501(c)(3) to 501(c)(4)? Still happening.
- In the 2016 cycle, Planned Parenthood’s affiliated organizations, political and advocacy arms, employees, and their family members gave $5.5 million to Democrats, but nothing to Republicans. They spent $10.4 million against Republicans, according to the most current data, compared with less than $7,000 against Democrats.
The ridiculous salaries for top executives? Yup, still growing.
CEO payout? Almost a million now. (What a nice non-profit to work for, huh?)
PP Still receiving federal funds? Yeah, 41% of their total revenue. Trump is still fighting it.
And they are still claiming they only do 3% abortion services (On Page 22—Please note, they did change it to “patient care provided by Planned Parenthood affiliate health centers”, instead of based on a financial metric).
And still killing children. 328,348 for the year 2015-2016, to be exact.
Conclusion: Planned Parenthood Oversight Investigation
It is important that these types of investigations do not get forgotten. When looking at them through a modern perspective, they provide us with the “character” of an organization. They also show us very clearly where the problems lie, even if the problem goes unsolved, like in this example.
Regardless of your stance on abortion, you should not support Planned Parenthood.
They are a pinnacle example of what is wrong in our country: where government funding becomes dependency, and that dependency turns into lobbying organizations that buy politicians.
An endless cycle of societal suicide.
This is incredibly evil, by any metric or standard.
They use the money from selling unborn babies’ body parts to encourage politicians to vote in their interests so they can kill more babies. Do I really need to say anymore to show which side has the moral high-ground here?
