International Planned Parenthood Got $26 Million in U.S. Aid in Clinton’s Last Two Years At State

Planned Parenthood’s international arm received $26 million in foreign-aid money during Hillary Clinton’s last two years at the State Department, a new report points out, thanks to the Obama administration’s policies.

The U.S. Agency for International Development gave $26 million to International Planned Parenthood Federation from 2010 to 2012, according to a new report from the Women Speak Out PAC, an affiliate of the Susan B. Anthony List, and America Rising. Planned Parenthood spent $3.86 million lobbying the federal government during Obama’s first term, the groups note.

Clinton’s close ties to Planned Parenthood, which also include a significant award from the group and thousands of dollars in political donations to her and her husband, could prove controversial as it comes under fire for videos exposing the potential sale and exploitation of fetal organs.

“Like any Clinton associate, all you need to do is follow the money to discover how deep Clinton’s Planned Parenthood ties go,” America Rising’s Joe Pounder says. “That’s exactly why you will never see Clinton criticize the group — her personal interests run too deep.”

The nation’s largest abortion provider gave Clinton its Margaret Sanger Award in 2014, a symbolic cap to the $67,000 in campaign donations that Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have received from Planned Parenthood employees throughout their political careers.

The group’s international arm, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, was eligible for millions in foreign aid, coordinated in part by Clinton’s State Department, because the Obama administration had lifted a rule preventing pro-abortion groups like Planned Parenthood from receiving funds for work abroad. The so-called Mexico City policy had been put in place by Republican presidents in the past; if Clinton were to win, it would almost certainly remain lifted, allowing the money to keep flowing.

After just a few months of the 2016 campaign, “Clinton has received almost $12,000 from employees of Planned Parenthood, including several maxed-out donations from heads of PPFA affiliates,” the report notes.

#related#The undercover video campaign implicating Planned Parenthood in the sale of organs taken from the bodies of aborted babies has already made that relationship uncomfortable for Clinton. Sale of human tissue is illegal, but the methods discussed by Planned Parenthood executives may be illegal, and one video calls into question the group’s motivations. “Putting it under ‘research’ gives us a little bit of an overhang over the whole thing,” Rocky Mountains Planned Parenthood’s vice president and medical director Dr. Savita Ginde said on the latest tape.

Clinton has said she hasn’t watched the videos, but is concerned. “I have seen pictures from them and obviously find them disturbing,” the Democratic presidential hopeful said during meeting Tuesday with the New Hampshire Union Leader. 

But, she continued: “Planned Parenthood is answering questions and will continue to answer questions. . . . Planned Parenthood for more than a century has done a lot of really good work for women: cancer screenings, family planning, all kinds of health services. And this raises not questions about Planned Parenthood so much as it raises questions about the whole process, that is, not just involving Planned Parenthood, but many institutions in our country. And if there’s going to be any kind of congressional inquiry, it should look at everything and not just one [organization.]“

— Joel Gehrke is a political reporter for National Review Online.