Should We Give Planned Parenthood Taxpayer Funds?

A few friends were talking the other day about Planned Parenthood. For a few minutes please set aside the abortion issue and go through this with me.

Planned Parenthood, as a non-profit organization dedicated to reproductive health, receives money from the federal government that allows them to provide services for low income women.

Fair enough you say.

The government provides a lot of health care funds for those in need. As taxpayers we want to provide a safety net for those who cannot afford these services. But should we be using taxpayer funds at Planned Parenthood? Is this the best use of our money?

Of course, the hue and cry of feminists is the argument that Planned Parenthood is necessary because they do mammograms.

Yes, I heard that just this week.

The president said this very thing the other day while he was trying to push his war on women agenda.

Here’s the truth.

First…because I know you are thinking this. Planned Parenthood does not do mammograms. Instead they offer referrals for a free (or reduced cost) mammo to area clinics for women who need them.

And second, 70 % of Planned Parenthood customers are under age 25. Here’s a risk assessment of breast cancer from the National Cancer Institute in women by age.

• Age 30 . . . . . . 0.44 percent (or 1 in 227)
• Age 40 . . . . . . 1.47 percent (or 1 in 68)
• Age 50 . . . . . . 2.38 percent (or 1 in 42)
• Age 60 . . . . . . 3.56 percent (or 1 in 28)
• Age 70 . . . . . . 3.82 percent (or 1 in 26)

In addition, the government Preventative Care Task Force recently offered an opinion to move preventative mammogram screenings to age 50. (Yes, I know this link is MSNBC…go figure.)

So.

The question becomes, how many referrals for mammograms are they actually writing at the Planned Parenthood clinics?

Okay. What else?

Look at the box below. Do you see how much money Planned Parenthood and its Political Action Committees spend on lobbying?

The following is just a short list of money spent by Planned Parenthood and one of its Political Action Committees to lobby for more funding and to campaign for president Obama and against candidate Romney.

• Planned Parenthood Votes PAC – $3,500,000 against Mitt Romney. $400,000 for Barack Obama
• Planned Parenthood spent $1,800,000 lobbying congress in 2011.
• Planned Parenthood contributed $420,000 to candidates in 2011-12.

Wow.

Isn’t that like a dog chasing its tail?  And where should an agency draw the line between lobbying and campaigning for (or against) a political candidate?

Wait a second.

Do the other agencies also lobby for additional money from the government? The answer in short, is yes. And here’s a whole website dedicated to health care lobbying rules.

Finally.

What do you think? I am all for women getting quality health care. I am pretty sure though that they need more than just PAP smears, birth control, STD treatment and mammograms referrals. Would general women’s health clinics be better suited for all?

It seems worrisome that the company is given all this federal money then turns around and uses a pretty large number of dollars (albeit the PAC funds are separately raise) to campaign and promote their agenda just so they can get a large number of dollars again. It seems in a time when our government is having to cut back programs and spending that perhaps an agency that already is very capable of raising money could manage just as well without taxpayer funds.

P.S.

I know. I said we were going to set the abortion aside.

But.

Planned Parenthood provides 330,000 abortions per year—25-30% of the total in the US.

That’s an awful lot.