Planned Parenthood affiliates received $90 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans meant for small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report from the Government Accountability office (GAO) released Tuesday morning.
The PPP loans were designed to bail out small independent businesses with less than 500 employees. But pro-life advocates raised concerns with the Small Business Administration — an independent government agency that supports entrepreneurs — and argued that Planned Parenthood has more than 16,000 employees across the country, well above the cutoff to be considered a small business.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., one of the lawmakers who requested the report in January 2022, called the findings “appalling.”
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Planned Parenthood signage is displayed outside of a health care clinic in Inglewood, California on May 16, 2023. (PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
“While small businesses struggled to make ends meet during the pandemic, Planned Parenthood illegally siphoned over $90 million from the Paycheck Protection Program, specifically designed to help our mom and pop shops keep their doors open,” Blackburn said in a statement.
She added, “The American people want their tax dollars spent responsibly and in line with our nation’s values — not on the Left’s abortion-on-demand agenda.”
The report, also requested by New Jersey state Sen. Chris Smith, outlined federal funding received by several major pro-abortion organizations between 2019 and 2021 amounting to nearly $2 billion.
Smith said the PPP loans were “money that could have gone to struggling small businesses, many of which were forced to close.”
“This money would have been better spent helping the businesses that were forced to close or providing comprehensive medical support for both women and children,” Smith told Fox News Digital in a statement.
Aside from the PPP loans, government sources that funneled funds to the organization included Medicaid, Medicare, and Children’s Health Insurance Program reimbursements, along with federal funding through grants and cooperative agreements amounting to $148.5 million.
Between 2019 and 2021, Planned Parenthood obtained $1.78 billion in government funding and executed one million abortion procedures, while International Planned Parenthood Federation received $2.03 million, MSI Reproductive Choices received $1.35 million, and four regional abortion providers got $107.74 million in funding.
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Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., questions Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen during a Senate Finance committee hearing about President Joe Biden’s proposed budget request for the fiscal year 2024, Thursday, March 16, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
The report noted that in 2019, Planned Parenthood, under the Trump Administration’s Protect Life Rule, declined Title X funding — a federal grant program that provides funding for family planning and reproductive health services — due to the rule’s stipulation against abortion referrals and demanded financial separation from abortion providers.
The GAO found that Planned Parenthood’s refusal to comply and forfeit its Title X funding “led almost all affiliates to discontinue using family planning grants under Title X” during 2020 and 2021.
From 2019 to 2021, Planned Parenthood conducted 1.11 million abortions while obtaining around $1.78 billion in federal funding, equating to an average of $592 million annually, according to the report.
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Planned Parenthood operates over 600 health centers across the United States.
Fox News Digital reached out to Planned Parenthood for comment.