Pro-Life Works: Public Funding of Abortion

April 26, 2010

Public Funding of Abortion

Eric Brown

Membership Services Associate

In recent months, primarily due to the health care debate, much attention has been given to the contentious issue of public funding of abortion.  Though it is true that the status quo, for the most part, has been not to subsidize abortion, Americans have been subsidizing abortion in a number of ways virtually since the legalization of abortion in 1974. 

The Guttmacher Institute claims that 87 percent of employer-based insurance plans cover abortions.  Critics of the Guttmacher Institute, such as Dr. Robert Moffitt, the deputy secretary of Health and Human Services in the Reagan administration, argue that 46 percent is a more reasonable estimate.  Either way, many Americans, simply by paying their private insurance premiums, may be financing a funding-pool that can be drawn from by insurance policyholders to cover an elective abortion.  Unfortunately, there has been no considerable study of abortion and health insurance, thus, there is no credible data to suggest the impact on the abortion rate by private insurance companies offering abortion coverage.

Americans also support abortion, albeit indirectly, through the companies and non-profits with whom they do business.  According to Foundation Watch, major corporate donors to Planned Parenthood include J.P. Morgan Chase (nearly $60,000), Johnson & Johnson (over $26,000), Nationwide (nearly $13,000), Prudential Financial (over $11,500), American Express (over $11, 300), Bank of America (over $6,000).  Microsoft founder Bill Gates gives millions to Planned Parenthood and other like-minded agencies promoting eugenic population control efforts in third world countries.  The Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research, a worthy and commendable cause, also gives money to Planned Parenthood.  Girl Scouts of the USA, while not nationally aligned with Planned Parenthood, have been known to support local efforts of Planned Parenthood, sometimes financially.  This is not true of all newspapers and media groups, but a number of them do donate to Planned Parenthood, including the parent company of the New York Times.  According to Life Decisions International, the American Automobile Association (AAA), The Salvation Army, Rotary International, American Diabetes Association, and the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) are among the non-profit organizations that have funded Planned Parenthood.  This list is obviously not exhaustive of all of Planned Parenthood’s direct and indirect support.

The private sector aside, there are bigger problems regarding public financing of abortion.  Medicaid is a federal-state cooperative health insurance program for poor Americans who could not otherwise afford medical coverage.  Funding for the program is split 50/50 between the federal government and each state.  Federal monies cannot be used to subsidize abortion except in the case of rape, incest, or life of the mother.  Each individual state may adopt the same policy as the federal government or cover abortion in additional instances.  Currently, 32 states (including Texas) simply adopt the policy of the federal government, funding abortion only in the cases of rape, incest, and life of the mother.  However, 17 states use their own state funds to cover all “medically necessary” abortions, which essentially are elective abortions.  Since Medicaid is a joint federal-state program, the money typically goes into a single fund and there are no legal statues, or strict enforcements, requiring a strict segregation of funds so that federal dollars are not financing abortions—often enough, segregating of funds usually turns out to be nothing more than an accounting scheme.

For the fiscal year 2008, the tax-exempt “non-profit” abortion provider Planned Parenthood reported taking in $1.0381 billion dollars in revenues.  More than a third of Planned Parenthood’s budget came from grants from the federal government—in other words, from taxpayers.

Title X appropriations fund a comprehensive sex education and contraception program.  Its prime recipients are Planned Parenthood and other anti-Life organizations and facilities.  While the funds cannot be used directly to subsidize abortion procedures, taxpayers directly underwrite abortion by underwriting those who commit abortions.  The increase of available funds in Planned Parenthood’s budget can be used in the promotion and expansion of abortion services.

The Pro-Life movement has much work to do to stop public subsidizing of abortion.  Elected officials must be held accountable for their political actions as well as inaction.  Pro-lifers must take necessary precautions, such as investigating their health insurance providers, to make sure their own private funds are not indirectly funding abortion.