Enrolling Resolution Defunding Planned Parenthood
The House has introduced an enrolling resolution (H.Con.Res. 36) that would add provisions to the continuing resolution prohibiting any of its funds from flowing to Planned Parenthood; text is available here. Timing of a Senate vote on the enrolling resolution is unclear, but the resolution is expected to require a 60-vote affirmative threshold for adoption. Background material on Planned Parenthood’s financing and activities follows.
Summary:
The resolution would direct the Clerk to correct the enrollment of H.R. 1473, so that the text of the continuing resolution would prohibit funding to Planned Parenthood and its affiliate organizations “for any purpose.”
Considerations:
- Planned Parenthood and its affiliates represent the nation’s largest abortion provider; according to its own statistics, Planned Parenthood clinics performed 332,278 abortions in 2009, more than one-quarter of the approximately 1.2 million abortions performed nationwide. Conversely, Planned Parenthood referred only 977 clients to adoption services.
- Planned Parenthood and its affiliates receive nearly one-third of their revenue from government grants and contracts.
- Some may argue that, despite Hyde Amendment prohibitions on the federal government directly funding abortion activities, money is fungible, and that receipt of federal taxpayer funding for other, non-abortion activities frees up monies that enable Planned Parenthood to finance its abortion activities.
- At a time of record budget deficits, some may question whether it is appropriate for the federal government to be spending taxpayer funds financing the work of America’s largest abortion provider, particularly when that organization has been running significant cash surpluses thanks to federal largesse.
Facts about Planned Parenthood’s Finances
- According to its most recent annual report, Planned Parenthood and its related affiliates held nearly $1.2 billion in total assets, and just under $1 billion in net assets.
- For the 2008-09 fiscal year, Planned Parenthood and its affiliates received nearly one-third (33%) of its $1.1 billion in annual revenue from government grants and contracts.
- For the 2008-09 fiscal year, Planned Parenthood and its affiliates ran a net cash surplus of $63.4 million, meaning surpluses from ongoing operations totaled nearly 5.8% of its annual revenue. By comparison, for-profit insurance companies generated a profit margin of 3.3% in a comparable period, meaning that if Planned Parenthood were a for-profit corporation, its profit margin would be nearly twice the health insurance industry average.
Facts about Planned Parenthood’s Activities
- According to its own statistics, Planned Parenthood clinics performed 332,278 abortions in 2009, more than one-quarter of the approximately 1.2 million abortions performed nationwide.
- In 2009, Planned Parenthood performed more than 340 times more abortions (332,278) than referrals to adoption agencies (977).
- While a recent Planned Parenthood fact sheet claims that only 3 percent of the organization’s services involve abortion, that claim is HIGHLY misleading.
- Planned Parenthood notes that “in 2009, we provided nearly 11.4 million medical services for three million people” – meaning the average client receives 3-4 different types of services.
- Many clients who obtain an abortion likely also receive services Planned Parenthood classifies as non-abortion related – pregnancy tests, tests for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, and contraceptive services, to name a few.
- Politifact recently noted that “many people would acknowledge a difference between providing an abortion and, say, handing out a pack of condoms or conducting a blood test. The former is a significant surgical procedure, whereas the latter are quick and inexpensive services. So Planned Parenthood’s use of “services” as its yardstick likely decreases abortion’s prominence compared to what other measurements would show. Using dollars spent or hours devoted to patient care would likely put abortion above 3 percent in the calculations.”
- The Guttmacher Institute notes that the average cost of a first-trimester surgical abortion in 2009 was $451. Based on this average cost for a surgical abortion, the 332,278 abortions performed by Planned Parenthood would have yielded nearly $149.9 million in revenue – or more than one-third (37%) of Planned Parenthood’s total revenue from health centers.