Blackburn, GOP Call for Answers on Federal Abortion Funding

Mary Margaret Olohan / January 20, 2022

Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee is leading Republican lawmakers in calling on the Government Accountability Office to explain what kind of federal funding Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers are receiving. 

In a letter sent Tuesday, the lawmakers reminded the Government Accountability Office that the agency has prepared several congressionally requested reports in the past on federal funding for Federally Qualified Health Centers, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, MSI Reproductive Choices (formerly known as Marie Stopes International), and four other domestic abortion providers.  

The domestic abortion providers specified in the letter are FPA Women’s Health, American Women’s Services, All Women’s Health Center, and Whole Women’s Health.

“What we are asking GAO to do is to give us a report showing where this funding has gone from 2019 through 2021, and of course, what we want to see is the money trail on this,” Blackburn told The Daily Signal in a phone interview ahead of Friday’s annual March for Life and the anniversary on Saturday of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion nationwide. 

“We know that these Planned Parenthood chapters, many times at their facilities, they will get the money, money is fungible, and while they say it is not used for abortion, it is used for other health care services,” the Republican senator added. “Still, it is all in that same pot of money.” 

The lawmakers specifically note in the letter that they want data on any Paycheck Protection Program loans received by Planned Parenthood, as well as related loan forgiveness. 

Republicans have repeatedly accused Planned Parenthood of illegally receiving those loans and called on the Small Business Administration to investigate how and why the abortion giant was given coronavirus aid. 

“This year’s report is going to have an extra request, and that has to do with the Paycheck Protection Program, with those PPP funds, because we found out that some Planned Parenthood organizations had applied for and received those funds,” Blackburn told The Daily Signal. “So, what we would like to know is, who they are and how much did they get?”

Blackburn expects that the Government Accountability Office will provide the requested data as it has done in the past. 

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