Life Advocacy Briefing
October 3, 2011
Life a Winning Issue / Congress to Probe Planned Parenthood / A.U.L. Responds
/ The Stingers React / House Dems React, Too /
Planned Parenthood Probe Subcommittee Members
Stearns Letter to Planned Parenthood Pres. Cecile Richards
Dems’ Letter Complaining About Planned Parenthood Examination
Life a Winning Issue
LIFE ADVOCACY WILL PRESENT a full-day Winning with Life seminar for pro-life front-liners – candidates, officials, staff, volunteers – and other pro-life citizens who wish to be strategic and effective in opening voters’ eyes to the need for abortion law reform and for election of those who will take it on.
Presented by Texas-based communication strategist Kevin Burnette and Life Advocacy’s president, former Illinois State Rep. Penny Pullen, the six-hour session is set for Saturday, Oct. 29, in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Registration is $45, payable to Life Advocacy, at 2004 E. Sherwood Road, Arlington Heights, IL 60004, or via secure credit card donation at www.LifeAdvocacy.com, citing “registration” in the “comments” section.
Congress to Probe Planned Parenthood
U.S. REP. CLIFF STEARNS LAUNCHED AN INVESTIGATION late last month into Planned Parenthood, to be undertaken by the Oversight & Investigations subcommittee of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, which he chairs.
The official investigation follows closely the publication this summer of an extensive report on Planned Parenthood by Americans United for Life.
Rep. Stearns “has called on the abortion giant to produce 13 years of records related to alleged abuses,” reports Charlie Butts for OneNewsNow.com, “specifically ‘its use of federal funding and its compliance with federal restrictions on the funding of abortion.’
“Planned Parenthood, in response,” writes Mr. Butts, “calls [Rep.] Stearns’ investigation ‘politically motivated,’ ‘ideologically driven’ and a ‘misuse of political power.’”
We publish Chairman Stearns’s letter to Planned Parenthood chiefette Cecile Richards, outlining the investigation, near the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing.
A.U.L. Responds
AMERICANS UNITED FOR LIFE C.E.O. Charmaine Yoest PhD issued a statement in response to the Stearns move.
“We also want to congratulate Rep. Cliff Stearns, chairman of the House Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee, for his leadership on this issue and for his willingness to look more closely at Planned Parenthood and its affiliates for their fraudulent use of taxpayer dollars, as outlined in AUL’s report.”
“A.U.L. welcomes the news that Congress is investigating the abortion mega-provider Planned Parenthood,” said Dr. Yoest, “for financial improprieties and its poor handling of the public trust. AUL’s groundbreaking report on Planned Parenthood released this summer outlines a template for investigators and provides extensive information on the abortion giant.
“The American taxpayer does not want to be in the business of abortion,” she said, “and this investigation is an important first step toward ending public funding of the nation’s largest abortion provider.”
Readers may examine AUL’s comprehensive report via the Internet at www.aul.org/aul-special-report-the-case-for-investigating-planned-parenthood.
The Stingers React
THE CONGRESSIONAL PROBE OF PLANNED PARENTHOOD is aided, according to Charlie Butts, reporter for OneNewsNow.com, by “undercover investigations by the pro-life groups Live Action and Life Dynamics over the past dozen years.”
The two sustained probes found, reports Mr. Butts, what Live Action and Life Dynamics “consider to be firm evidence of illegal activities.”
Mark Crutcher of Life Dynamics welcomed the probe, reports Mr. Butts. “‘This is the largest criminal enterprise in American history,’” Mr. Crutcher declared, quoted by OneNewsNow, “‘and its victims are children. …
“‘If Planned Parenthood is indeed thoroughly investigated in allareas,’” said Mr. Crutcher in the news story, “‘this organization will not survive the investigation. I promise you, that’s true,’” he said. “‘This is a corrupt entity; it is involved in illegal activity.’”
Noting that Planned Parenthood reacted negatively to the announcement of the Congressional probe, Mr. Crutcher told Mr. Butts, “‘If Planned Parenthood does not want to be exposed to this sort of scrutiny, then they shouldn’t be taking taxpayer money.’”
“Lila Rose of Live Action tells OneNewsNow,” writes Mr. Butts, “‘We have documented all kinds of abuse in the serial cover-up of the sexual abuse of minors, the willingness to aid and abet in trafficking, the willingness to perform rape-safe abortions [and] the willingness to manipulate and coerce women into abortions, as well as many fraudulent and other dealings that the organization is involved with.’”
As one who has been leading undercover investigations of Planned Parenthood for the past five years, Miss Rose welcomed the probe as “‘a historic moment,’” reports Mr. Butts. “‘It’s also a necessary step that should have been taken long ago. … It’s time for the American people to realize the truth,’” she said, “‘about what’s happening at their abortion giant that’s being funded through federal and state dollars.’”
House Dems React, Too
IT TOOK 12 DAYS FOR THEM TO RESPOND, but two leading committee Democrats sent a letter to Chairman Stearns on Sept. 27, seemingly objecting to the planned examination of the major consumer of tax funds.
We publish the letter from Energy & Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Subcommittee Ranking Member Diana DeGette (D-CO) at the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing.
Planned Parenthood Probe Subcommittee Members
Chairman Cliff Stearns (FL) and Republican Representatives Brian Bilbray (CA), Cory Gardner (CO), Phil Gingrey (GA), Steve Scalise (LA), Fred Upton (MI), Lee Terry (NE), Sue Myrick (NC), John Sullivan (OK), Tim Murphy (PA), Marsha Blackburn (TN), Joe Barton & Michael Burgess (TX) and Morgan Griffith (VA).
Ranking Member Diana DeGette (CO) and Democratic Representatives Mike Ross (AK), Henry Waxman (CA), Kathy Castor (FL), Jan Schakowsky (IL), Edward Markey (MA), John Dingell (MI), Gene Green (TX) and Delegate Donna Christensen (VI).
Stearns Letter to Planned Parenthood Pres. Cecile Richards
Sept. 15, 2011
Dear Ms. Richards:
Pursuant to Rules X and XI of the United States House of Representatives, the Committee on Energy & Commerce is examining the institutional practices and policies of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and its affiliates, and its handling of federal funding.
The Committee has questions about the policies in place and actions undertaken by PPFA and its affiliates relating to its use of federal funding and its compliance with federal restrictions on the funding of abortion.
In order for the Committee to evaluate PPFA and its affiliates’ compliance with current statutory and legal obligations, I ask that you provide the following within two weeks of the date of this letter:
Please provide all internal audit reports conducted by PPFA and its affiliates from 1998 to 2010. If not clearly indicated in the audit reports, please detail how much PPFA and each affiliate expended and received in Title XIX Medicaid funding, Title X family planning funding and any other federal funding.
For any internal audits that uncovered instances of improper billing under federally funded programs, please provide a description of the problem discovered, the actions taken to correct the improper billing and the amount of money Planned Parenthood reimbursed the government.
Please provide documentation of PPFA and its affiliates’ standards, procedures and policies that are in place to prevent and to address improper billing and/or overbilling.
Please provide any official documentation (written policy or procedure guides) that ensures federal money received by PPFA and its affiliates is not being used to impermissibly subsidize abortion.
Please provide any audits of PPFA and its affiliates that have been conducted by state agencies since 1991 that are not publicly available.
Please provide documentation of how many Planned Parenthood affiliates and clinics receive Title X family planning funding and provide abortion services. Include how many clinics receiving Title X funding also refer patients to other clinics even if a non-affiliated abortion provider.
Please provide all official written policies and procedures provided by PPFA and its affiliates that explain how to ensure with federal mandates that the Title X funding each affiliate receives is segregated from its abortion business/sources of funding for abortion-related services.
Please describe how the segregation between family planning and abortion services is accomplished, how this segregation is monitored for compliance and what internal audits, controls or reviews are conducted to ensure this.
Please provide a summary of how PPFA detects criminal conduct and the policies and procedures in place to prevent it or report it.
Please provide the policies and procedures PPFA and its affiliates have in place to ensure that all Planned Parenthood clinics report all cases of suspected sexual abuse, including statutory rape, to the proper authorities.
Please provide the policies and procedures PPFA and its affiliates have in place to ensure that suspected sex trafficking is reported to the proper authorities.
An attachment to this letter provides additional information on how to respond to the Committee’s request. If you have any questions regarding this request, please contact the Committee’s staff … .
Signed, Sincerely,
Cliff Stearns, Chairman, Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations
Dems’ Letter Complaining About Planned Parenthood Examination
Sept. 27, 2011
Dear Chairman Stearns:
We are writing regarding your Sept. 15, 2011, letter opening a far-reaching investigation into Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its affiliates. We question the basis for the investigation and whether Planned Parenthood is being singled out as part of a Republican vendetta against an organization that provides family planning and other medical care to low-income women and men.
Your letter states that the “committee is examining the institutional practices and policies of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its affiliates and its handling of federal funding.” It then makes an extraordinarily broad and burdensome request for documents. The letter asks Planned Parenthood and all 83 of its affiliates for internal audit reports covering up to a 12-year period, for state audits covering a 20-year period, for detailed information about any improper billing and for sensitive information about the services and referral practices of Planned Parenthood affiliates and clinics.
The letter also requests information about billing practices, segregation of funds and policies and procedures in place with regard to criminal conduct, sexual abuse and sex trafficking.
We are aware of no predicate that would justify this sweeping and invasive request to Planned Parenthood. The HHS Inspector General and state Medicaid programs regularly audit Planned Parenthood and report publicly on their findings. These audits have not identified any pattern of misuse of federal funds, illegal activity or other abuse that would justify a broad and invasive Congressional investigation.
This year, House Republicans have voted twice to strip Planned Parenthood of federal funding. You strongly supported these efforts, stating that “defunding Planned Parenthood should be a fiscal and moral priority for Congress.” You also unfairly smeared the organization when you claimed that Planned Parenthood is “willing to use public funds to commit a federal crime” and is “willing to ignore the law in promoting its services.”
These unfounded legislative attacks on Planned Parenthood have consistently failed. They were opposed by the Senate and President Obama and are not supported by the American people. It would be an abuse of the oversight process if you are now using the Committee’s investigative powers to harass Planned Parenthood again. Your fervent ideological opposition to Planned Parenthood does not justify launching this intrusive investigation.
We are committed to strong Congressional oversight. But we are opposed to investigations that appear to be designed to harass and shut down an organization simply because Republicans disagree with the work that it does. Planned Parenthood provides family planning and other essential services to low-income women and men across the United States. It deserves our support for its important and life-saving work – not another unfair and unjustified assault.
We hope that you will reconsider this investigation.
Signed, Sincerely, Henry A. Waxman, Ranking Member
Diana DeGette, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations