In her testimony before Congress, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards repeatedly claimed that federal funds are not going toward abortion, which is prohibited under federal law.
But while Planned Parenthood gives lip service to the law and vows to the American public that taxpayers are not funding its egregious and illegal practices, it is fighting for tax dollars without restriction through the repeal of a federal law banning the taxpayer funding of abortion.
Planned Parenthood and its allies are intensifying efforts to repeal provisions under the Hyde Amendment, the federal law prohibiting public funding for abortion. In a petition by NARAL, a coalition of abortion advocates, including Planned Parenthood, are asking Congress to repeal Hyde.
The Hyde Amendment, originally passed in 1976 (and renewed multiple times since), prevents federal taxpayer dollars from funding abortions through Medicaid. The Medicaid program operates using both federal and state funds, and the state receives a 90 percent reimbursement on Medicaid family planning spending from the federal government.
Because of the fungibility of money, federal dollars do end up paying for abortions, as a number of states publicly fund abortion to some degree, despite Hyde Amendment prohibitions. California, through Medi-Cal, is the greatest purchaser of abortion, using public money to do so.
Planned Parenthood is also the largest recipient of funding under Title X, a Nixon-era family planning program that serves low- to middle-income Americans. While Title X does not recognize abortion as a method of family planning (no funds are allowed to even pay for “programs where abortion is a method of family planning”), Planned Parenthood encourages abortion as a means of “planning” for a family, and consequentially, tax dollars are supporting the group’s mission.
Despite the fact that taxpayers indirectly foot the bill for abortion – something that is deeply unpopular with the public – Planned Parenthood wants to expand taxpayer funding with no restrictions. However, one of Planned Parenthood’s main talking points in light of the “baby parts” scandal is that federal dollars are not subsidizing the destruction of human life.
Herein lies the juxtaposition: the abortion business uses Hyde to polish its tainted reputation, separating from the minds of the American taxpayer that their money funds its legacy of lawbreaking, but in reality, Planned Parenthood is doing everything it can to garner ever more public money for abortions.
The facts speak for themselves: Planned Parenthood and its allies not only wish to protect their bottom line, but to expand it — forcing Americans to bankroll its destructive practices. Even in the aftermath of its baby parts scandal, Planned Parenthood wants the American public to subsidize the killing of innocent children.
Funneling taxpayer funds towards an organization whose very business is built upon the destruction of human life means that taxpayers are subsidizing abortion, no matter how Planned Parenthood tries to frame it.
