Rep. Black vows to defund Planned Parenthood after latest abortion report

By Pete Kasperowicz - 01/10/13 11:42 AM ET

Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) this week vowed to continue trying to starve Planned Parenthood of federal funds after the group's latest report showed it performed a record number of abortions in its latest fiscal year.

According to Black, Planned Parenthood's latest report says the group received $542 million in taxpayer funding, nearly half of the group's revenue. She said the group performed nearly 334,000 abortions in the last fiscal year.

"As Planned Parenthood's federal funds reached an all time high, so too did the number of abortions it provided, while its real health services for women continues to decline," Black said. "This report underscores the pressing need to cut off all federal funding for Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in America.

"Planned Parenthood's blatant misuse of taxpayer dollars to fund its big abortion business is an attack on life and women's health. It must be stopped."

Planned Parenthood's Eric Ferrero says the group provides a range of services for women, and that any federal money it gets cannot be used for abortion.

"More than 90 percent of Planned Parenthood's services are preventive care, such as cancer screenings and birth control, and like any other health care provider we are reimbursed by the government for providing specific preventive services to low-income patients," he said. "As has been the case for decades, federal funds are not and cannot be used to provide abortion."

But Black and other Republicans have argued that while federal money is not currently permitted to fund Planned Parenthood's abortion services, money is fungible, and federal funds therefore indirectly help fund abortion services.

Black has already re-introduced legislation that would ensure all federal grants for family planning are not given to groups like Planned Parenthood that provide abortion services. Her bill, H.R. 217, has 48 co-sponsors so far, including Republican Study Committee Chairman Steve Scalise (R-La.).

Black's GOP Tennessee colleague, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, has introduced similar legislation to keep federal funds away from any group providing abortion services. Blackburn's bill is H.R. 61.

— This story was updated at 8:27 a.m., Friday.