Friday, July 20, 2007

Tax Financing of Planned Parenthood Remains in Place

As provided by LifeNews.com:

Pro-life lawmakers tried on Thursday to get an amendment to a federal budget spending bill that would have stripped federal funding of Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion business. Rep. Mike Pence, an Indiana Republican, put for the amendment to remove the funds from the Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations Act which funds the agencies for fiscal year 2008. However, the House defeated his amendment on a 231-189 vote.

According to their own 2005-2006 Annual Report, Planned Parenthood received over a third of their income--$300 million--from government funding. Although the government monies are prohibited by law from being used for abortions, that funding still helps Planned Parenthood in its overall operations. Pro-life lawmakers said the money the abortion business receives is fungible and essentially allows it to operate abortion centers without spending as much of its own funds.