Pro-lifers continue to urge the Department of Government Efficiency to defund Planned Parenthood, but they aren’t putting all their eggs in Elon Musk’s basket.
As pro-life groups fight for a provision in the budget reconciliation package to remove federal funding from Planned Parenthood, conservatives warn against allowing pro-abortion misinformation to derail efforts to defund the abortion giant.
Pro-abortion activists are citing a 2015 report from the Congressional Budget Office estimating that defunding Planned Parenthood would increase direct spending by $130 million during the 2016-2025 period.
Advancing American Freedom, a conservative think tank founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, is calling on pro-life members of Congress not to fall for that narrative.
“With pro-life majorities in Congress and DOGE sniffing around for waste, fraud, and abuse, the Washington Swamp is circling the wagons to protect Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer funding,” the memo first shared with The Daily Signal says. “Their leading argument is Malthusian nonsense: that defunding Planned Parenthood would ‘cost money!’ Conservatives must not fall for this long-debunked pro-abortion argument.”
The economic cost of aborting 630,000 babies in 2019 was at least $6.9 trillion, according to a June 2022 report from Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and the Joint Economic Committee, cited by Advancing American Freedom.
Abortion “shrinks the labor force, stunts innovation, and limits economic growth,” the report says.
Planned Parenthood received about $75 billion in federal funding from 2019 to 2021. That includes $22 billion in Department of Health and Human Services grants and $53 billion from public health programs.
While the strongest arguments against abortion is the moral one, pro-lifers should recognize that the economic argument holds water as well.
“If one must resort to an economic argument not to kill babies, the math is simple,” the memo says. “More babies equals more future taxpayers equals more revenue. The idea that we must kill babies to
‘save money’ is sick. Once you do the math, taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood costs taxpayers more money!”
Pro-life organizations, including Advancing American Freedom, are encouraging the three branches of government, all of which are controlled by conservatives, to use their authority to bring Planned Parenthood’s funding down.
DOGE can investigate Planned Parenthood for “waste, fraud, and abuse,” according to Advancing American Freedom.
On Nov. 20, Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy penned an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal saying that DOGE “would help end federal overspending by taking aim at the $500 billion-plus in annual federal expenditures that are unauthorized by Congress or being used in ways that Congress never intended,” including “nearly $300 million to progressive groups like Planned Parenthood.”
Ramaswamy has since resigned from DOGE leadership to run for Ohio governor.
Congress can defund Planned Parenthood using the March 14 government funding deadline and the budget reconciliation package.
The Supreme Court will soon hear Kerr v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, which could decide whether pro-life states can direct Medicaid funds away from abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood.
“Ultimately, pro-life members of Congress must disregard CBO’s backwards scoring and stand up for the unborn by defunding Planned Parenthood once and for all,” Advancing American Freedom’s memo said.
This article was originally published at www.dailysignal.com
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