Three major abortion providers received more than $1.5 billion in taxpayer funds over a three-year period, with a significant portion of the funds going to Planned Parenthood affiliates under legal scrutiny for allegedly selling fetal tissue and other violations.
 
The Government Accountability Office studied taxpayer funding that went to three organizations that perform abortion: Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Marie Stopes International, and International Planned Parenthood Federation.
 
Between 2013 and 2015, these organizations spent $410 million in federal funding and received $1.2 billion in combined federal and state funds under federal programs in which funding must be shared.
 
“In short, more than $1.5 billion in tax dollars went to abortion providers over a three-year period,” said a March 8 statement from both the investigating Members of Congress and U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.).

While federal rules limit federal funding for abortions, Planned Parenthood receives federal funding for other services related to preventive care, reproductive health, and diagnostics.

The Susan B. Anthony List analyzed the GAO report and found that four of the five top-funded Planned Parenthood affiliates have been referred to the Department of Justice by Congress for criminal investigation. The $544 million in tax dollars funding for these affiliates made up about one third of Planned Parenthood’s $1.5 billion in taxpayer funding over the relevant period.
 
The top-funded affiliate, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, based in central California and Nevada, supplied organs to StemExpress. The affiliate’s chief medical officer Dr. Dorothy Fulgerson, as quoted in promotional materials, promoted “financially profitable” partnerships between abortion facilities and tissue procurement companies. The affiliate received $229 million in taxpayer dollars over the three years studied by the GAO report.
 
Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, which received $106 million in the same time period, took a reputation hit when one of its abortion doctors, Dr. Deb Nucatola, was shown on video saying that an unborn baby’s body can be manipulated into breech position in a late-term abortion in order to ensure the baby’s organs remain intact.
 
In southern California, Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest received $105 million in tax dollars. Its former medical director Dr. Katharine Sheehan said the affiliate provided organs to a bioscience company at $60 per specimen.
 
Planned Parenthood of Northern California, which received $104 million, allegedly violated federal health privacy rules in a systematic manner by disclosing individually identifiable, private medical information about patients to the tissue supplier StemExpress.
 
Planned Parenthood of Orange & San Bernardino Counties received the second-largest amount in taxpayer funds, $118 million. Though it was not referred for investigation, one of its collaborators was.
 
It supplied organs to DV Biologics, which with its sister company DaVinci Biosciences LLC admitted to violating federal law and is shutting down through a legal settlement with the Orange County district attorney’s office — a settlement worth nearly $7.8 million in value.

Full story at Catholic News Agency.