Congress Goes Buck Hunting - Abortion Industry Giant Can't Account For Tax Dollars

FRC Washington Update: Babies aren't the only thing vanishing at Planned Parenthood clinics--so are taxpayer dollars! According to the latest Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports, the abortion giant can't puts its fingers on a cool $1.3 billion in federal funds. Of the $2.02 billion that the International Planned Parenthood Federation raked in between 2002-2009, only $657.1 million is accounted for. Twenty-six House members and five senators have filed an information request demanding to know where the missing money is.

With the government swimming in debt, you'd think that the administration would take keen interest in locating its lost billion. On the contrary, the White House's only response has been to give Planned Parenthood some control over its new grant program. Translation: "You've lost a billion dollars? Well, by all means, let's put you in charge of more!" Late last Friday (when the press is least likely to notice), the Department of Health and Human Services announced the creation of a Pregnancy Assistance Fund, a new grant program that's designed to help moms-to-be, particularly teenagers, with education, health care, child care, and housing costs. In an email from the President's Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, the White House claimed this program would fulfill the President's promise of finding "common ground on abortion." How can he find common ground on abortion if the Fund never mentions it?

Or does it? According to our sources inside HHS, Planned Parenthood actually helped draft the rules that decide who is and isn't eligible for grant money. In other words, look for the pro-abortion crowd to be at the front of the line, ready to cash in on even more taxpayer dollars.

As you know, FRC has been a leading voice for life-affirming pregnancy services (see our booklet, A Passion to Serve), but we strongly oppose the idea that these grant recipients should include any group that financially profits from abortions. See, there's a reason that Planned Parenthood performed 307,310 abortions in 2007 and only 4,912 adoption referrals that same year. (Hint: One of those services yielded more than $168 million in revenue?"and it wasn't the adoptions!) Asking Planned Parenthood to oversee where our money goes is a huge conflict of interest?"not to mention an irresponsible choice, given the group's massive failure to manage their own grants!

The only way to help these mothers and their babies is by funneling the $25 million to organizations that won't make a profit from their work, namely pregnancy resources centers. And if President Obama truly cared about these women, HHS would have issued real regulations--this time enforcing his Executive Order to strip abortion from the health care bill. More Washington Updates

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