Planned Parenthood Subsidized by Title X?

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According to the Wall Street Journal (5/23/08), The Federal government distributes about $280 million a year among the thousands of clinics to subsidize the cost of birth control, cancer screening, HIV testing and other reproductive care for low-income patients.  Known as Title X, the program serves five million men and women a year.  By law the money can’t be used for abortion procedures.

But about one third of Title X patients receive their care at reproductive health clinics run by Planned Parenthood, which is also the nation’s largest abortion provider.  Critics say the federal grants indirectly subsidize Planned Parenthood’s abortion services by keeping a steady stream of money flowing into the clinics.

President Ronald Reagan imposed rules over two decades ago that barred clinics that received Title X money from performing abortions or referring patients to abortion clinics.  Opponents filed suit, and the regulations were put on hold for years as the court battle played out.  The United States Supreme Court eventually upheld the regulations - but a year and a half later, President Clinton rescinded them.

Since Mr. Bush took office, activists on the right have been pleading with him to reinstate the Reagan-era rules.  In one of his first official acts as President, he imposed restrictions on foreign family-planning aid, preventing U.S. grants from going to groups that perform or promote abortion.  He has declined, however, to implement that rule domestically. 

Planned Parenthood of America relies on government grants and contracts, including Title X, for roughly a third of its nearly $337 million budget, according to its recent financial support.  Before the Bush administration is over, a final push is being waged to pressure the President to use his executive authority to order the change.

Your Tax Dollars Are At Work….Buying Contraceptives

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Legend has it that one of the top commercial theatre producers on Broadway once joked:  “There’s no profit like non-profit.”  Taking a page out of what could easily be a Tony Award-winning script, the Los Angeles Times has reported that the former Vice President for Finance and Administration for [Un]Planned Parenthood’s Los Angeles affiliate has filed a whistleblower lawsuit, alleging that various [Un]Planned Parenthood affiliates overcharged California and the federal government by at least $180 million from the late 1990’s through 2004.

What was the alleged scam?  The Family Research Council reports that California [Un]Planned Parenthood affiliates would purchase oral contraceptives at a special discount price offered only to non-profit organizations, and then bill California’s Medi-Cal program for “up to twelve times as much as they paid.”

According to an article in the Los Angeles Times (3/8/08): “A 2004 state audit of Planned Parenthood of San Diego and Riverside Counties - one of nine affiliates statewide…identified more than $5.2 million in overbillings just during the 2003 fiscal year.”

To make matters more unbelievable, in 2004, [Un]Planned Parenthood complained that a lower reimbursement rate could imperil its survival (God forbid!) and lobbied Sacramento, the California state capital,  to get a law passed allowing it to continue to bill at the same usurious rates!

Just for a chuckle, I decided to take a look at tax returns (Form 990’s) for the Los Angeles chapter for the past three years to see what impact this new law has had.  According to the 2005 and 2006 Form 990s, the Los Angeles chapter has had $53 million in revenue and $12.5 million in surplus (”non-profit speak” for profit!)  That’s a 24% profit - I mean “surplus” - margin!  Holy moly!

Where is the media outrage over this story?  Leave aside the policy debate which has been effectively stifled by the anti-life forces and has allowed [Un]Planned Parenthood’s personal agenda to become de facto public policy.  How dare our lawmakers ratify and institutionalize the price-gouging and the pickpocketing of California taxpayers!  According to the Times the lawsuit was filed “under seal” in 2005, after the state legislators apparently had ratified and sanctified the alleged misbehavior of the past. 

At the very least, [Un]Planned Parenthood’s non-profit status should be seriously reviewed, based on their clear record of turning dimes into dollars.

Planned UNParenthood is Anti-Family

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Talk about dangerous and destructive!  A Johnson County (Kansas) grand jury is investigating Planned “Un”Parenthood to determine whether the abortion provider complies with Kansas laws on parental notification and the 24-hour waiting period.

The grand jury panel has asked for medical records of sixteen women who had abortions in 2003.  Planned Parenthood is refusing to turn them over, claiming patient privacy right violations.  However, the grand jury wants the following patient information:  date of birth, date of last menstruation, dates and times of medical procedures, and notifications and/or consultations with patients.  The grand jury is not asking for any patient-identifying information like name, social security number, address, phone numbers or next of kin - they can be eliminated before the information is sent on to them.  So much for patient privacy violations.

Additionally (according to the Kansas City Star), charges allege that Planned Parenthood performed illegal later-term abortions in 2003 and falsified, forged, and failed to maintain related records.

The ACLU and Planned Parenthood are also pushing San Diego’s school board to end long-standing policies which require parental notification when students are pregnant and contemplating abortion, and parental consent before students leave campus, including trips to abortion clinics. The ACLU and Planned Parenthood are claiming that this violates the privacy rights of students and that the mentality is “antiquated and dangerous.” 

I’ve had conversations with some of these ACLU and Planned Parenthood types over the years, and it’s absolutely scary how paranoid they are about parental involvement in their children’s lives.  They are thoroughly convinced, it would seem, that parents universally impregnate and/or beat their children, and that only they are the grand protectors of children.  If that’s so, I wonder why Planned Parenthood gets in trouble for not reporting molestations when adult males bring in minor females for abortions?  Gets mighty confusing to me.

Happily, the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) sent a letter to the school board, urging them to stand by their parent and family-friendly policies and offered free legal assistance if those policies are challenged in court.  PJI President, Brad Dacus stated in the Standard Newswire that “Contrary to ACLU and Planned Parenthood propaganda, parental responsibility is not antiquated or illegal.  It is indispensable to a decent society.  We urge the San Diego School Board not to cave in to pressure from radicals who ignore common sense and distort constitutional principles.”

PJI’s affiliate attorney commented:  “Parents are morally and legally responsible for their minor children, so it is just common sense that they should be aware of their children’s whereabouts, particularly if they are being subjected to life-altering medical procedures, such as abortions.”

Planned UN-Parenthood

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Frankly, calling abortion (the termination of a life within a woman’s uterus) “reproductive health,” is a ridiculous - but effective - way of obfuscating the realities.  A January 18 report from the Associated Press (which excludes California because its government does not provide data) estimates that in 2005 there were 1.2 million abortions - down from a peak of 1.6 million abortions in 1990, but still happening in 20% of the cases where conception has occurred.

Half of the 1.2 million U.S. women who have abortions each year are 25 and older, while only 17% are teenagers.  Since abortion became legal, there have been roughly 50 million abortions in the US, and more than one-third of adult women are estimated to have had at least one. Continue reading Planned UN-Parenthood…