Mike Pence: GAO confirms it is Time to Defund Planned Parenthood

Pence: “The time has come to deny any and all federal
funding to Planned Parenthood by passing the
Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act.”

Washington, DC – U.S. Congressman Mike Pence
today issued the following statement regarding
the release of a new Government Accountability
Office (GAO) report revealing that the Planned
Parenthood Federation of America received
$657.1 million in taxpayer dollars from Fiscal
Year 2002 to Fiscal Year 2009. The largest
source of these funds ($342.1 million) was the
Title X family planning program.



“It is morally wrong to end an unborn human
life by abortion. But it is also morally wrong
to take the taxpayer dollars of millions of
pro-life Americans and use those funds to
promote abortion.

“This report confirms that the largest
abortion provider in America is being
bankrolled by American taxpayers. In these
tough economic times, there is simply no
reason why taxpayer money should go to fund
the activities of abortion providers and
equip them with the resources they need to
end innocent human life.

“We must stop providing taxpayer dollars to
abortion providers through Title X. We must
put an end to Americans unwillingly providing
financial support to the abortion industry.
The time has come to deny any and all federal
funding to Planned Parenthood by passing the
Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act.”

Background:

The Title X Family Planning program was
enacted in 1970 as Title X of the Public Health
Service Act. Title X is the only federal grant
program that provides individuals with
comprehensive family planning and related
preventive health services.

Congressman Pence introduced The Title X
Abortion Provider Prohibition Act (H.R. 614),
a bill prohibiting the distribution of
Title X family planning money to entities
that use abortion as a method of family
planning. The bi-partisan bill has
93 co-sponsors.

Originally, family planning services were
not allowed to include abortions and
currently federal dollars are not used
directly for abortions. However, over the
years, the subsidy of abortion providers
under the umbrella of family planning has
been gradually accepted.

Current law prohibits the use of Title X
family planning funds “in programs where
abortion is a method of family planning;”
and current regulations require some
form of separation between federally-funded
family planning services and abortions.
However, the current regulations do not
contain a descriptive standard of what
constitutes “separation.” They only require
the level of separation to be more
than “mere bookkeeping.”

When Title X money goes to clinics that
provide both abortions and family planning
services, even though the money cannot
directly fund abortions, it is being used to
offset operational costs with federal funds,
freeing up money to promote and provide
abortions.

Rep. Pence, Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX) and 29
other Members requested the GAO study,
which can be accessed at
 http://gao.gov/products/GAO-10-533R.