10 Reasons Why Taxpayers Should Defund Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood and the issue of abortion has been at the forefront of America's national discourse and debate for some time. The most notorious abortion decision, Roe v. Wade, was handed down in 1973, and ever since, abortion has remained a heated subject. Then, after undercover videos were released two summers ago allegedly showing Planned Parenthood officials negotiating the sale of fetal body parts, the movement to end abortion and defund Planned Parenthood gained additional momentum.
Now, with a Republican in the White House and a Republican-controlled Congress, pro-lifers are even more hopeful that Planned Parenthood, which provides hundreds of thousands of abortions every year, can be defunded.
A few weeks ago, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan vowed that Republican lawmakers will make defunding Planned Parenthood a priority.
Also recently, Joe Carter at The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission provided 10 reasons why Christians (as taxpayers) should support defunding Planned Parenthood and why they should make this a priority.
1. Planned Parenthood is the largest provider of abortions in America—and the largest recipient of federal funding for family planning.
Planned Parenthood reportedly performs over 323,000 abortions per year. It is also the recipient of the most federal funding for a family planning institution. It receives about $344.5 million in direct federal funds and another $1.2 billion in funding from Medicaid every year. This is taxpayer funding going toward an organization that provides thousands of abortions each year.
2. Planned Parenthood covers up the crimes of rapists, pimps, and sex traffickers.
Planned Parenthood has a shady record when it comes to protecting victims of sexual abuse. There are reports that suggest the abortion provider has even been willing to work with pimps and sex traffickers in order to exploit young women.
3. Planned Parenthood’s corporate profits come at the taxpayer’s expense.
Taxpayer dollars make up at least 40 percent of Planned Parenthood’s revenue and the entirety of its profits. Taxpayer funding is essential to this company.
4. Planned Parenthood opposes abstinence-only education and promotes sexual deviancy.
Planned Parenthood not only opposes abstinence education, but the organization has even filed lawsuits against schools that have taught it. Although they claim to promote “value-neutral” sex education, their record shows something different.
5. Planned Parenthood systematically engages in fraudulent ‘overbilling’ to maximize revenue from government-funded programs
Investigations into Planned Parenthood's financial data and practices found that thousands of abortions were unlawfully billed to Medicaid--and thus paid for through taxes. Additionally, Planned Parenthood was found guilty of wasting at least $12.8 billion in fraudulent practices and incurred penalties.
6. While taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood doubled, the number of cancer screenings they provided dropped by half
Taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood has risen, yet the other health services besides abortion which they claim to provide actually dropped. Cancer screenings reportedly dropped by 50 percent since 2005.
7. Planned Parenthood may have violated federal law in selling fetal tissue for monetary gain
Undercover videos allegedly show Planned Parenthood officials negotiating the sale of fetal body parts as if they are any other kind of goods to buy and sell and from which to make a profit. A Congressional investigation even uncovered documents and received testimony that this occured.
8. Planned Parenthood altered abortion techniques to increase success of harvesting fetal tissue from abortions
The aforementioned Congressional investigation also revealed that Planned Parenthood specifically chose certain abortion techniques in order to procure the most intact fetal body parts, which they in turn allegedly sell.
9. Planned Parenthood violated patient confidentiality to facilitate sale of fetal tissue from aborted babies
In addition to negotiating the sale of fetal body parts, Planned Parenthood disregarded their patients' right to privacy. The ERLC notes, "The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) established the Privacy Rule, which protects all individually identifiable health information by setting limits and conditions on the uses and disclosures that may be made of such information without patient authorization." Once again, Planned Parenthood has shown they care more about profit than about their patients.
10. Planned Parenthood supports infanticide through advocacy of partial-birth abortion
Planned Parenthood supports partial-birth abortion, and has opposed efforts to ban what the ERLC calls this "infanticidal practice."
The ERLC describes this process: "In this gruesome procedure, the abortionist pulls a living baby out of the womb feet-first and into the birth canal, except for the head, which the abortionist purposely keeps lodged just inside the cervix. The abortionist then punctures the base of the baby’s skull with a surgical instrument."
These are 10 top reasons to defund the Planned Parenthood organization. Join with a local pro-life movement today to stop the killing of the unborn.
Adapted from the article "Why Should Taxpayers Defund Planned Parenthood? Here are 10 Reasons," published on ChristianHeadlines.com and based off of the article "10 reasons taxpayers should defund Planned Parenthood," published on the Ethics & Religous Liberty Commission website.
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