{"id":322018,"date":"2024-11-21T13:25:12","date_gmt":"2024-11-21T19:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=322018"},"modified":"2024-11-27T11:34:14","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T17:34:14","slug":"musk-ramaswamy-defunding-planned-parenthood-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/musk-ramaswamy-defunding-planned-parenthood-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy signal move to defund Planned Parenthood under Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, along with former Presidential candidate and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, were recently tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to head the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a new Government agency tasked with reducing waste and spending. Now, it appears that defunding Planned Parenthood could be in their sights.<\/p>\n

Musk and Ramaswamy specified in a recent op-ed published<\/a> by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that “We will serve as outside volunteers, not federal officials or employees. Unlike government commissions or advisory committees, we won\u2019t just write reports or cut ribbons. We\u2019ll cut costs,” adding, “The two of us will advise DOGE at every step to pursue three major kinds of reform: regulatory rescissions, administrative reductions and cost savings,” they wrote. “We will focus particularly on driving change through executive action based on existing legislation rather than by passing new laws. Our North Star for reform will be the U.S. Constitution, with a focus on two critical Supreme Court rulings issued during President Biden\u2019s tenure.” These rulings appear to be West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency<\/em> (2022) and Loper Bright v. Raimondo\u00a0<\/em>(2024).<\/p>\n

“DOGE will present this list of regulations to President Trump, who can, by executive action, immediately pause the enforcement of those regulations and initiate the process for review and rescission,” the duo also wrote, claiming they are\u00a0“focused on delivering cost savings for taxpayers.”<\/p>\n

Though Musk and Ramaswamy suggested that “[s]keptics question how much federal spending DOGE can tame through executive action alone,” they took aim at a few specific funding recipients. “…DOGE will help end federal overspending by taking aim at the $500 billion plus in annual federal expenditures that are unauthorized by Congress or being used in ways that Congress never intended, from $535 million a year to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and $1.5 billion for grants to international organizations to nearly $300 million to progressive groups like Planned Parenthood.”<\/p>\n

Planned Parenthood is a\u00a0political organization<\/a> and an abortion corporation that portrays itself<\/a> as a \u201chealth care\u201d agency.<\/p>\n

Planned Parenthood is abortion-focused, and taxpayers foot the bill<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Planned Parenthood commits 40%<\/strong> of all abortions in the United States; even as its legitimate health services were in decline last year, Planned Parenthood broke its record and committed<\/a> 392,715 abortions<\/strong>, according to its 2022-23<\/a> annual report, nearly 20,000 more abortions (a 5% increase) from the previous year. This is a 100% increase from the number of preborn children they killed in 2000. What this amounts to is 1,076<\/strong> preborn children killed every day, nearly 45<\/strong> every hour, and\u00a0one every 80 seconds<\/strong>\u00a0in\u00a02022-23<\/a> \u2014 by Planned Parenthood alone.<\/p>\n

Planned Parenthood Abortions, which have long been\u00a0tethered to eugenics<\/a>, now make up 40%<\/strong>\u00a0of all abortions in the U.S.<\/p>\n

In its most recently reported year, Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer dollars jumped<\/a> over 4% from the previous year<\/a>, up to nearly $700 million<\/strong> dollars reported<\/a> for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023. In less than 25 years, taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood have climbed a whopping 245%<\/strong><\/em> (from $202.7M in 2000 to the most recent figure).<\/p>\n

As of June 30, 2023<\/a>, Planned Parenthood had accumulated over $2 BILLION in total revenue, with excess revenue<\/em> hitting $178.6 million. Planned Parenthood\u2019s net assets and liabilities<\/a> have now sit at over $2.9 billion<\/em>, the highest recorded in recent years.<\/p>\n

The organization has committed<\/a> over 7.1 million abortions and received nearly $10.7 billion<\/strong><\/em> from taxpayers since 2000 — and all in the face of complaints from staffers about discrimination, retaliation, abuse, and racism.<\/p>\n

Planned Parenthood’s long list of infractions<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Over the years, accusations of abuses,<\/a>\u00a0scandals<\/a>,\u00a0fraud<\/a>, racism, pregnancy discrimination,\u00a0privacy breaches,<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Medicaid fraud<\/a> have piled up against Planned Parenthood. Despite these claims, the U.S. government has continued to funnel millions in taxpayer dollars to the organization, which was founded upon the philosophy of eugenics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These abuses<\/a>\u00a0include:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Misleading<\/a> women with false and deceptive marketing<\/li>\n
  • Overbilling<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Medicaid fraud<\/a>, patient privacy violations<\/a>, and more<\/a><\/li>\n
  • Lying about the services it provides<\/a>, including prenatal care<\/li>\n
  • Lying about providing mammograms<\/a><\/li>\n
  • Misinforming women<\/a> about prenatal development<\/a><\/li>\n
  • Providing poor care<\/a> for clients, with former managers accusing them of \u201ctreating women like cattle<\/a>\u201d and using\u00a0ultrasounds<\/a> only for abortions<\/li>\n
  • Failing<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0child\u00a0sexual abuse<\/a>\u00a0(a violation that alone should\u00a0result<\/a> in the organization losing millions of taxpayer dollars granted under Title X federal funds)<\/li>\n
  • Promoting<\/a> BDSM and other disturbing sexual practices for teens<\/li>\n
  • Multiple campaign donation violations for which Planned Parenthood PACs and their appointed overseers have been cited<\/a> by the Federal Election Commission<\/li>\n
  • Alleged discrimination<\/a> against staffers<\/li>\n
  • Former staffers<\/a> tied to sexual abuse<\/li>\n
  • Allegedly referring minors out of state<\/a> without parental knowledge or consent<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Read more here<\/a> for information on even more of Planned Parenthood’s abuses and infractions.<\/p>\n

    Failure to comply with mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Live Action investigations<\/a> have documented Planned Parenthood\u2019s willingness to aid sex traffickers<\/a>, to commit sex-selective abortions<\/a>, and more, which should disqualify Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funding.<\/p>\n