Despite pandemic, Planned Parenthood’s abortions increased in FY 2020

Washington D.C., Feb 19, 2021 / 05:00 pm (CNA).- Planned Parenthood’s annual report once again showed an increase from the previous year in both abortions performed and government funding.

According to its latest annual report, Planned Parenthood performed 354,871 abortions in the 2019-20 fiscal year—a 2.7% increase from the 2018-19 year, which was a 3% increase from the year before that.

“Planned Parenthood’s business is abortion, not health care,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, in response to the report. She noted that the organization’s number of abortions increased “[a]t a time when U.S. abortions overall have long been on the decline.”

Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest abortion provider. Due to its abortion business, some members of Congress and the Trump administration have sought to separate the organization entirely from Medicaid funding and federal family planning funding.

The Trump administration issued a rule in Feb. 2019 prohibiting grantees in the federal Title X family planning program from referring for abortions, or being co-located with abortion clinics.

Rather than comply with the regulations, Planned Parenthood withdrew from the program in August, 2019, forfeiting an estimated $60 million in annual funding. The organization says it helped delay implementation of the rule for more than ten months, holding on to Title X funding in the meantime.

Despite withdrawing from Title X, the group received more than $618 million in government funding in the 2019-20 year—an increase of $1.3 million from the previous year.

The AP reported in Feb., 2020, that states were already moving to fund the organization in their budgets to cover the Title X funding shortfall. Planned Parenthood also receives reimbursements from Medicaid for services, although Medicaid cannot pay for elective abortions by law.

The White House, meanwhile, has reaffirmed President Joe Biden’s support for federal funding of Planned Parenthood, and Biden has issued guidance saying that states can’t refuse to fund the organization with Medicaid dollars.

Biden also supports repealing the Hyde Amendment, which bars federal funding of elective abortions.

Dannenfelser warned against efforts by Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion groups to loosen federal restrictions on the abortion pill regimen, making it available over-the-counter and through the postal service. Currently, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations require that the abortion pill be prescribed in-person at a health clinic.

“We will never quit fighting to stop taxpayer funding of the abortion industry and provide the life-affirming alternatives women and families deserve,” she said.

In comparison to the number of abortions performed last year—nearly 355,000—Planned Parenthood said its affiliates provided 8,626 “prenatal services,” 2,110 instances of “miscarriage care,” 31,912 “family practice services,” and 2,667 “adoption referrals.”

The report featured a testimony from a woman who had an abortion at Planned Parenthood, and touted abortion facilities that remained open during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The first days of the pandemic gave us a peek behind the curtain into a world without Roe,” the report stated, noting that some states tried to halt abortions along with other “non-essential” elective surgeries in order to slow the spread of the virus.

“We saw people drive 15 hours from Texas to Colorado for abortion. In states where access exists in name only, people still seek abortion,” Planned Parenthood said.