Planned Parenthood, the nation's leading abortion provider, has spent $12 million on this year's presidential election through its political action committees -- the most it has ever spent in an election, Baptist Press reports. About half of the money has gone for TV ads in battleground states such as Florida, Ohio and Virginia, according to the Associated Press. Planned Parenthood's president, Cecile Richards, said she has "taken a break from [her] day job" to campaign for President Obama. In a video released by the Obama campaign on Oct. 19, Richards said, "Our daughters' and our granddaughters' future depends on" working to re-elect the president. In the second presidential debate, Obama mentioned Planned Parenthood five times, advocating continued federal funding for the organization. Republican candidate Mitt Romney, meanwhile, has called for the de-funding of Planned Parenthood. The abortion provider and its affiliates received $487.4 million in government grants, contracts and reimbursements in 2009-10, the most recent year for which statistics are available, and Planned Parenthood centers reported performing 329,445 abortions in 2010.
