Planned Parenthood’s recently released annual report revealed that the nation’s largest abortion provider performed a record-breaking 354,871 abortions in the 2019-20 fiscal year—a 2.7% increase from the 2018-19 year, which saw a 3% increase from the year before that.

The organization also saw an increase in federal funding, receiving $618.1 million in government health services reimbursements and grants throughout 2019-20—roughly a $1.3 million increase from the year prior.

“With Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the White House, we can expect this alarming trend to continue as Democrats seek to force taxpayers to bankroll abortion businesses at home and abroad, roll back FDA safety precautions on dangerous abortion drugs, and convert every pharmacy and post office into an abortion center—reversing decades of pro-life progress,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony List, said.

While many elective medical procedures were postponed due to COVID-19 last year, Planned Parenthood argued that “abortion is health care” and an essential service. Meera Shah, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood in the New York City suburbs of Long Island, Westchester and Rockland, even told BuzzFeed News that abortion care is “life-affirming.”

Yet the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) called the decision to perform elective abortions during a pandemic “medically irresponsible.”

“Elective abortion is neither ‘essential’ nor ‘urgent,’” AAPLOG pointed out in a press release, “but it does consume critical resources such as masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment, and unnecessarily exposes patients and physicians to pathogens.

“Elective abortion, both surgical and drug induced, also generates more patients to be seen in already overburdened emergency rooms,” the physicians group added. “Most abortion providers instruct women to go to an emergency room if they have any concerning symptoms after the abortion. Approximately 5% of women who undergo medication abortions will require evaluation in an emergency room, most commonly for hemorrhage. Surgical abortions can also result in hemorrhage. Emergency room personnel—who are already struggling to meet the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic—will be further strained to provide care to these women.”

But that didn’t stop Planned Parenthood from applying for—and receiving—$80 million in COVID relief funds through the Paycheck Protection Program. The program was intended to help small businesses, nonprofits and other organizations with less than 500 employees weather the economic shutdown brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. 

The Small Business Administration has requested Planned Parenthood return the money, as the abortion giant—which took in $1.64 billion in revenue last year—did not qualify for coronavirus stimulus payouts.

So far, the funds have not been given back.

 
 
Above: Laura Terrill, vice president of external affairs for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana, waits in the state capitol after testifying against the Montana Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (HB 136) on Jan. 19, 2021, in Helena, Montana.

Photo: Thom Bridge/Independent Record via AP