Is Planned Parenthood On The Ropes?

• By Michael Norton
• Posted Dec 12, 2011
• No Comments »

The pressure brought by ADF and its allies to strip Planned Parenthood of federal taxpayer subsidies – estimated at $350 million or more per year – continues to mount.

Following the September 15, 2011 announcement by Congressman Cliff Stearns (R-FL) that his House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee had launched a massive investigation of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its affiliates’ use of federal funding and compliance with federal abortion funding restrictions, members of the ADF Life Team briefed Congressman Stearns and his staff on the experiences of ADF in identifying waste, abuse, and potential fraud by Planned Parenthood and its affiliates.

In addition to other information, ADF advised Congressman Stearns of the 15 federal and state audits which had determined there had been Title XIX-Medicaid overpayments to Planned Parenthood affiliates in excess of $46 million. By all accounts, Planned Parenthood’s primary motivation has been to enhance its profits by taking advantage of “overbilling” opportunities in complex, well-funded, but understaffed federal and state programs.

Most recently, in a December 7, 2011 letter signed by seven former Planned Parenthood employees, including ADF friends Abby Johnson of Texas and Susan Thayer of Iowa, these seven former employees, which include a former Planned Parenthood abortion doctor, two former clinic managers, and one former clinic director, told Congressman Stearns that Planned Parenthood indeed used federal money for abortions despite federal prohibitions.

The seven former Planned Parenthood employees told Congressman Stearns that they could “state categorically, from personal experience, that abortion is indeed deployed [by Planned Parenthood] as a means of family planning.” They also expressed to Congressman Stearns that, since Planned Parenthood receives $1 billion or more in a three year period, close governmental oversight is indeed warranted.

Planned Parenthood’s pro-abortion allies, including the Obama Administration, are doing all they can to resist Congressman Stearns’ long overdue investigation. But who can disagree that, in the words of former Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen, “a million here, a million there, and pretty soon you are talking about big bucks.”

Let the Stearns’ investigation proceed apace!