According to the Daily Caller, as part of the 2023 federal funding package, the Planned Parenthood Mar Monte Community Clinic facility in San Jose, California will receive $2 million to relocate and renovate its facility.
Planned Parenthood Mar Monte (PPMM) is the largest Planned Parenthood affiliate in the U.S., overseeing 35 facilities and committing tens of thousands of abortions. It was at the center of an undercover investigation into Planned Parenthood’s trafficking in aborted body parts.
Citing a press release from Open the Books, the Daily Caller reports that as the December 23 deadline to approve a federal budget loomed, California Representative Zoe Lofgren, a 13-term congresswoman who represents California’s 19th District, secured the $2 million funding for the Planned Parenthood facility, which will be given in two $1 million payouts. PPMM provides gender-affirming hormone therapy for children as young as 16, as well as surgical and chemical abortions. It has become a national leader in recruiting “youth influencers” to market its services. And its “Sex Ed Equity Project” is aimed at children as young as 13, and received a Title X grant, with annual funding of $1,004,826 in 2021. This isn’t the first time Lofgren has requested $2 million in federal funding for the PPMM Community Clinic to relocate and renovate.
The funding for Planned Parenthood, which was part of the federal 2023 budget signed by President Biden on December 23, is in addition to $1 million of “pass through” funding to PPMM from the state of California guaranteed by the City of Fresno in August. One council member, Garry Bredefeld, strongly condemned that funding. During an emotional meeting about the resolution, Bredefeld described the funding as “a complete misuse of taxpayer money.” Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer promptly vetoed the resolution, expressing concern that the city was being used as a “middleman” for Planned Parenthood to receive funds. That veto was overridden.
Direct funding of abortions by the federal government has historically been prohibited by the Hyde Amendment, which was included in the 2023 federal budget, but earmarks for overhead and facilities in which abortions are committed are not restricted. According to a recent analysis by the Charlotte Lozier Institute, expenditures on abortion by Planned Parenthood continue to rise, but other basic medical services have decreased drastically since 2010. Total cancer screening and prevention services at Planned Parenthood have dropped by 74%, prenatal services declined by 72%, and contraceptive services dropped by 41%.
