Millions More State Dollars Go To Planned Parenthood
We fought hard this year to stop legislation that allows health insurers enrolled in Virginia’s Obamacare Health Exchange program (subsidized by taxpayers) to pay for abortion coverage, but unfortunately, the Democratic majority jammed it through and Governor Northam just recently signed it into law. In addition to causing more innocent babies to be destroyed in the womb, this is highly unnecessary given how much the abortion industry receives in taxpayer funds already.
According to recent documents received from the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, we discovered that Planned Parenthood alone is currently raking in around $6 million in contracts with the state.
One contract awarded Planned Parenthood of South Atlantic a total of $1.2 million in federal funds over the next four years "to provide for Adolescent Health services," which appears to be for STD testing and treatment. And the Virginia League for Planned Parenthood was awarded $4.7 million for a "Contraceptive Access Initiative," which may be part of the funding allocated for Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives (LARCs), which started out as a “pilot program” that we fought against over the past few years, and includes some devices that can act as abortifacients.
The now apparently-permanent LARC program was baked into the new 2021 state budget, which will funnel a total of $7 million over two years to Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics to pay for LARCs and other forms of contraceptives for lower-income women (See Item F.1, 3, & 4). Last year, the Governor rejected a budget amendment to the LARC program we supported that would have limited the funds to only the cost of the actual devices, but would not pay the abortion facilities for administering them. That rejection kept in place the original 2018 Budget language.
In 2018, The Family Foundation warned that while the LARC grants will not fund abortions directly, it will allow Planned Parenthood to redirect other funding streams to support their primary mission – performing abortions. Clearly, based on the VDH documents, this program has effectively become a tax-funded “slush fund” for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers – exactly what we said would happen!
In fact, just last year the Virginia League for Planned Parenthood (VLPP) announced its grand opening of “a new, state-of-the-art, conveniently located health center in the East End community” of Richmond. In a 2019 Richmond Times-Dispatch article, VLPP said they projected to double the number of Richmond clients to 20,000 visits per year. It was clear that the new abortion facility was able to come about because of the expansion of Medicaid and other funding sources, including the LARC program.
The Governor who received at least $3 million from Planned Parenthood in his campaign has clearly paid them back, with interest. Only, he used our money to do it.
Moral of the story: Elections have major consequences.
