News
The statement
"A U.S. Government Accountability Office report says Planned Parenthood Federation of America cannot find some $1.3 billion given to it by the federal government from 2002 through 2008." WorldNetDaily, in a report
The ruling
The Government Accountability Office report in question, published May 28, 2010, compiled federal funds disbursed to family planning agencies for the fiscal years 2002 to 2009.
We should note that the GAO is a nonpartisan, respected office.
The report stated that Planned Parenthood spent $657.1 million in federal funds between 2002 and 2009. That was the amount Planned Parenthood itself reported to the government in audited annual reports, which the GAO described as "sufficiently reliable for our purposes."
But the report did not, as WorldNetDaily unequivocally stated, include any statement or any evidence that Planned Parenthood received $2.02 billion or that any money was missing.
The first reference we found to $2 billion or more was a June 2010 op-ed in the Washington Times by Rita Diller, the national director of Stop Planned Parenthood, which is part of the American Life League.
In 2010, Diller wrote that "Planned Parenthood Federation of America's (PPFA) audits show the organization spent just $657.1 million between 2002 and 2008 from federal government grants and programs, but the abortion behemoth's own annual reports show that it took in $2.3 billion from government grants and programs."
We compared Diller's information with Planned Parenthood's annual reports and found the numbers appeared to be in order. So why the difference? Planned Parenthood spokesman Tait Sye gave many reasons:
• Planned Parenthood reports all government funding as one category, which includes federal, state and local funding. The GAO counted direct federal funding.
• Planned Parenthood gets money from Medicaid. The GAO report does not appear to count money from Medicaid.
• Planned Parenthood has more than 80 affiliates, many of which get subcontracts paid for with federal funding. The GAO report noted only counted 21 affiliates.
The WorldNetDaily statement irresponsibly suggests misappropriation of federal funds without any evidence. That makes it not just false, but ridiculously so. Pants on Fire!
Edited for print. For more rulings, go to PolitiFact.com.
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