California Passes $90 Million Funding Bill for Planned Parenthood

California passed a bill last week granting Planned Parenthood $90 million to spend however it likes.

SB 106 passed the California state assembly in a 55-14, party-line vote. Governor Gavin Newsom, accompanied by several Planned Parenthood executives, signed the bill on February 11, promising it would “protect access to critical resources for women and families across the state.”

Critics argue granting Planned Parenthood an additional $90 million — on top of the $145 million California taxpayers have already paid the abortion giant since Congress defunded it in July — does not address California’s most pressing medical concerns.  

“Why does Planned Parenthood get a ninety-million-dollar grant [when], right now, over 60 hospitals in the state of California are on the verge of shutting down and have to ask for a hospital distress loan?” Assemblyman David Tangipa asked his colleagues.

Hospitals and maternity wards are especially sparse in rural areas. Tangipa’s Medera County — one of the largest counties in California — doesn’t have a single maternity ward.

“We should be focused on ensuring comprehensive medical care for women everywhere, not directing limited resources in a way that leaves communities behind,” the assemblyman concluded.

Tangipa proposed amending SB 106 to prevent Planned Parenthood from spending the grant on pro-abortion lobbying and better direct the funds toward rural areas.

None of his amendments passed.

Tangipa’s criticisms hit on several important points. Though Planned Parenthood bills itself as a comprehensive “reproductive health” provider, it primarily sells abortions, dispenses sex-rejecting hormones and peddles comprehensive sex education to minors.

According to its most recent annual report, Planned Parenthood performed 402,230 abortions in FY 2022 — a 2% increase from the previous year — and gave out sex-rejecting hormones to as many as 40,000 people.

In contrast, Planned Parenthood provided 10% fewer “additional services” in FY 2022 than in 2013, with a 61% decrease in breast exams, a 54% decrease in PAP smears and a whopping 63% decrease in prenatal services.

California’s decision to further fund Planned Parenthood rather than supplement rural hospital services could reflect the abortion corporation’s entrenched relationship with many lawmakers.

Planned Parenthood donated $1.6 million to California legislators in the past ten years, including more than $68,000 to Governor Newsom.

Some California state representatives have sought abortions from Planned Parenthood. Assemblywomen Buffy Wicks opined at length about the abortion Planned Parenthood performed on her, and how the death of her unborn child facilitated her political career and enabled her to start a family on her own schedule.

“I got to create [my] life because Planned Parenthood gave me the opportunity to make that choice and to make that decision at that vulnerable time of my life,” Wicks told the assembly.

The decision to end her child’s like wasn’t Wicks’ to make. Her success and happiness do not justify the death of her first child. But Wicks’ reasoning illustrates the close ideological alignment between Planned Parenthood and many progressive politicians.

These ideological and monetary ties undergird the symbiotic relationships between Planned Parenthood and much of the political left, including progressive elites in California.

Planned Parenthood spends millions of dollars each year lobbying for pro-abortion policies. Supporting abortion has become a tent-pole position for the modern Democrat party. Many left-leaning political hopefuls, eyeing the 2026 and 2028 elections, have circled the wagons around Planned Parenthood to please their voter bases.

Planned Parenthood also affirms gender ideology through damaging comprehensive sex ed programs, which it develops and teaches. Comprehensive sex ed affirm gender ideology, normalize minors engaging in risky sexual behaviors and claim children have “sexual rights.”

Though gender ideology has become unpopular with most Americans, it continues to motivate a loud section of the political left’s base.

The tangled relationships between California’s legislators and Planned Parenthood give the abortion giant an undeniable leg up in fiscal negotiations.

Reason and the will of the people won’t prevail in California as long as organizations like Planned Parenthood hold legislators’ ears and pocketbooks.

Additional Articles and Resources

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