Lauren Boebert Introduces ‘Defund Planned Parenthood Act’

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) introduced legislation in the House on Friday designed to cut off federal taxpayer funding of abortion industry giant Planned Parenthood. The Colorado firebrand’s first proposed bill of 2023 is titled the Defund Planned Parenthood Act. 

Planned Parenthood and its abortion-providing affiliates received more than $633 million in U.S. taxpayer funds in 2022, courtesy of the Democratic Congress and Joe Biden.

The new legislation would also redirect the tax dollars now going to Planned Parenthood to “Federally Qualified Health Centers.” That term is defined as facilities that provide American women with reproductive health care services, including cancer screenings, pap smears, and family planning services.

Boebert said of the new bill that “the nation’s largest abortion provider has no business receiving taxpayer dollars.”

“Planned Parenthood claims these funds go to healthcare for women, but last year, Planned Parenthood performed a record number of abortions while also reducing the number of well-woman exams and breast cancer screenings it performed,” she added.

Boebert said her bill would ensure that taxpayer money would go toward focusing on “healthy women, not killing babies.”

Reports indicate that the bill has 29 House GOP co-sponsors. Included in those supporters are Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Ben Cline (R-VA) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ).

In its 2021-2022 annual report, Planned Parenthood said its clinics performed more than 383,000 abortions nationwide. It claimed it provided services to 2.4 million persons and said that if it is defunded, it would “mean blocking patients who depend on public health care funds from getting their care at Planned Parenthood health centers.”

The introduction of the Defund Planned Parenthood Act coincided with the 50th annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., the first since the reversal of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court last June. In Dobbs v. Jackson, the high court brought an end to a federally recognized right to abortion on demand and returned the power to regulate or ban abortions to each state individually.

On Friday, Boebert tweeted: “I’ve introduced my first bill of the 118th Congress. It would defund Planned Parenthood. We need to protect the sanctity of life in this country. To all those marching at the March For Life, let’s rally behind this bill and get it done!”