Penny Starr — hater of abortion and Planned Parenthood — begins her Dec. 23 CNSNews.com article, headlined “Planned Parenthood’s Federal Funding Rose to $363.2 Million in FY 2008-2009, Aborted 324,008 Unborn Children in 2008,” like this:
Planned Parenthood received $363.2 million in government grants and contracts during its 2008-2009 fiscal year, according to the organization’s annual report. That was up from $349.6 million in FY2007-08.
According to a fact sheet on Planne Parenthood’s Web site, the organization performed 324,008 abortions in calendar year 2008. That was up from 305,310 in 2007 and 289,750 in 2006.
It’s not until the fifth paragraph that Starr gets around to noting that the two are mutually exclusive: “The funding is for reproductive health care services, including family planning, and cannot be directly spent on actual abortion procedures except in cases of rape, incest or to preserve the life of the mother.”
That’s otherwise known as the Hyde Amendment, whose name Starr curiously fails to mention.
Still, the false implication that Planned Parenthood uses federal money for abortions remains is Starr’s article — certainly the commenters on the article are under that impression.