Lisa Correnti
(ZENIT News – Center for Family and Human Rights / Washington, 12.04.2024).- Over 100 Republican lawmakers asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to account for all the federal money flowing to domestic and international abortion groups.
“Proper oversight of public funds and programs is crucial for determining the value of the goods and services provided to and funded by American taxpayers,” wrote Republican lawmakers in a bicameral letter.
The letter comes just days after Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the co-chairs of President-elect Donald J. Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, announced that $300 million of federal grants to Planned Parenthood were on the chopping block.
Led by Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), the letter was supported by 31 Senators and 81 House members including the most senior members to lead the 118th Congress; Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA).
The Members asked for a comprehensive accounting of all funding to abortion providers over a three-year period, from 2022-2024. Those operating domestically include Planned Parenthood and its affiliates, as well as FPA Women’s Health, American Women’s Services, All Women’s Health Center, and Whole Women’s Health.
They also asked for an accounting of all funding to global abortion giants International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and MSI Reproductive Choices and their affiliates. Both organizations have hundreds of affiliates operating in Africa, southeast Asia and Latin America. Lawmakers requested that the report include all funding amounts, activities, agency source of funding and whether the recipient received assistance directly or through a prime organization.
Writing in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, Musk and Ramaswamy outlined goals for eliminating federal overspending and waste including $500 billion annually that is “unauthorized by Congress or being used in ways that Congress never intended.” Included in this they wrote is “$1.5 billion for grants to international organizations” and “$300 million to progressive groups like Planned Parenthood.”
Cuts to International organizations could include eliminating funding to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), embroiled in controversy for their work promoting abortion, and past involvement in China’s coercive family planning program. Funding to UNFPA averaged about $30 million annually in core funding under Democrat administrations with additional assistance being made for “voluntary” activities. The Biden administration has drastically increased this funding with over $350 million to UNFPA in 2022 and 2023, without Congressional approval.
During President Trump’s first administration, he tried to cut funding to domestic and international abortion providers to stop U.S. taxpayer complicity in abortion.
When Trump took office in 2017, he expanded the Mexico City Policy to all global health, around $10 billion. This prevented foreign abortion providers from receiving U.S. grants unless they abandoned all abortion activities. Abortion groups however have moved activities into sectors beyond global health, including humanitarian, climate, water and sanitation, and other programs. Pro-life advocates hope that when Trump takes office a second time he will extend the Mexico City Policy to all foreign assistance, roughly $50 billion.
Global abortion groups anticipating this move have been voicing opposition to the expected application of the Mexico City Policy since even before the election. The most vocal abortion groups, like IPPF and MSI have said they will not comply with abortion restrictions and that by forfeiting U.S. grants, women’s health will be impacted, especially those in rural areas.
In 2017, IPPF and MSI also refused to comply with the abortion restrictions failing the women they pledged to help signifying that first and foremost, abortion is their primary business. Abortion groups were among the most aggressive critics of the Trump administration throughout his first term.
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