Anti-abortion lawmakers in Congress have determined that federal taxpayers poured at least $967 million into family planning organizations such as Planned Parenthood over the last eight years . . .
-- From "Family planning groups' use of U.S. tax money is targeted" by Stewart M. Powell, Hearst Newspapers, posted at San Antonio Express-News 6/16/10
Rep. Pete Olson, R-Texas, who led an effort by 31 Republican lawmakers to obtain the audit by Congress' watchdog Government Accountability Office, said he hopes to use the findings to generate momentum for his proposed legislation to require states and the federal government to provide annual public reports on taxpayer funds that are appropriated to “abortion providers.”
Olson's staff said the public spotlight on federal funding for family planning organizations was designed to give taxpayers a better picture of the alleged “shift” that anti-abortion activists claim takes place within many private nonprofit organizations that receive federal funds and provide abortion services.
The enterprises are not allowed to use federal funds to provide abortions at taxpayers' expense, but they can use other grants and donations for that purpose.
Of the $967 million, $657 million in federal funds was spent by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, an organization that provides exams, screenings, contraception, abortion care and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases to an estimated 3 million patients a year.
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