CV NEWS FEED // A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has revealed that the federal government funneled nearly $2 billion in taxpayer funding to fund abortion facilities in the U.S. and abroad.
GAO released its report on December 12, revealing that the U.S. government gave a staggering total of $1.89 billion dollars in federal funding to abortion facilities between 2019 and 2021.
Despite longstanding federal protections such as the Hyde amendment, which prohibits most uses of taxpayer dollars to fund abortions, the report indicates that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) disbursed the majority of the funding directly to the abortion facilities.
Recipients included Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), MSI Reproductive Choices (MSI), and at least four other abortion facilities in the U.S.
In the U.S., PPFA received a total of $1.78 billion between 2019 and 2021, with $1.53 billion coming from combined federal and state funds through Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Medicare, and an additional $148.5 million from Title X Family Planning Program.
The four other unspecified domestic abortion facilities received a combined $107.74 million.
The report discovered that Planned Parenthood received $90.41 million taxpayer dollars from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) in May 2020 in order to keep the organization from crashing during COVID lockdowns.
A week later, the Small Business Association (SBA) asked PPFA to return the funds because PPFA facilities are “ineligible for a PPP loan under the applicable affiliation rules and size standards, consistent with Congressional intent.”
Several PPFA facilities refused to return the money, and the SBA continued to provide funding to PPFA, despite its prior complaint.
Abroad, IPPF (the international arm of Planned Parenthood) received $2.03 million to fund its abortion facilities located across 146 countries. MSI, which operates out of 37 countries and provides both chemical and surgical abortions, received $1.35 million in federal funding.
GAO conducted its investigation at the request of nearly 150 members of Congress led by Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-TN, and Chris Smith, R-NJ, in January 2022. All of the lawmakers were Republicans.
