The federal government gave almost $700 million to Planned Parenthood in a one-year span in which the organization set a record for abortions performed but saw a decline in major non-abortion services. Counseling, cancer screenings, pap smears, adoption referrals and preventative visits were all below the previous year's numbers, according to Planned Parenthood's report for 2022-2023.
Planned Parenthood also prioritized abortion overseas with emphasis on poverty-stricken areas in Latin America and Africa. Arielle Del Turco with the Family Research Council, during an interview Friday on Washington Watch, said the abortion giant clearly is proud of that.
"They're targeting these poor countries, and they're going in and training tens of thousands of local activists in these countries essentially to be activists for abortion, to change these laws from the inside out and remove pro-life protections that are in these countries," Del Turco explained. "Planned Parenthood, in its most recent annual report, bragged that they had overturned in the last calendar year 112 pro-life policies in these countries."
Marist polling indicates that 67% of Americans oppose or strongly oppose using tax dollars to support abortion services in other countries.
Del Turco, director of FRC's Center for Religious Liberty, said Planned Parenthood's approach contradicts the Left's frequent cries that Western countries go into other nations and "impose their norms."
She told show host Jody Hice that Planned Parenthood is essentially engaging in "ideological colonialism."
"It's abusive for a powerful, well-funded organization like Planned Parenthood to enter poor, vulnerable countries [that have] legitimate needs and coercively work to dismantle pro-life protections instead of offering practical help," Del Turco wrote for The Washington Stand.
Planned Parenthood's mission to spread abortion is clear. It spent few resources in countries with what it would term favorable abortion policies. Instead, 90% of Planned Parenthood's global efforts focused on countries with strong pro-life laws, the report showed.
"This is not organic. They're not going in to meet some sort of practical need. Planned Parenthood is going into countries where both the law and the culture are very pro-life, where they completely reject abortion, and they're trying to change these countries from the inside-out. It's coming from the outside and from the millions of dollars they are funneling into these countries," Del Turco said.
Don't let Left confuse the narrative
The FRC spokeswoman said that as an abortion provider Planned Parenthood's overseas focus is profit-driven. And whether the organization's federal dollars are specifically earmarked for overseas use is irrelevant, she added. By simply expanding its budget with federal assistance, Planned Parenthood can expand its reach.
"No American taxpayer dime should be going to Planned Parenthood," she argued. "This should be a priority for Republican politicians: completely defunding Planned Parenthood and other organizations that perform or support abortion [here] at home – but especially overseas."
