Another Bogus Republican Claim About Planned Parenthood

Republicans keep getting caught making bogus claims about Planned Parenthood. U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl made this outragious statement.

Kyl: Everybody goes to clinics, to doctors, to hospitals, so on. Some people go to Planned Parenthood. But you don't have to go to Planned Parenthood to get your clolesterol or your blood pressure checked. If you want an abortion, you go to Planned Parenthood, and that's well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does.

Kyl's office later said, "His remark was not intended to be a factual statement, but rather illustrate that Planned Parenthood, a organization that receives millions of dollars in taxpayer funding, does subsidize abortions."

Apparently, the United States Senate has less regard for facts than the standards for a third grade book report. Not only is 90 percent of Planned Parenthood's services not abortions, the Hyde amendment forbids federal funding of abortions. There are no tax dollars going for abortions. That is a fact Kyl can not dispute.

The latest bit of Planned Parenthood misinformation comes from the Florida House. Rep. Ronald Renuart (R-Ponte Vedra Beach) made this statement to Stephanie Kunkel, executive director of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates.

RENUART: "In 2008, Planned Parenthood, they put out a report, and it showed that they did 305,000 abortions and the average cost was $450. Their total income for Planned Parenthood alone was $374 million, of that $137 million was actually for abortions. So that's almost 37 percent of the total income from Planned Parenthood is from abortions. And to me, it sounds like they don't want to lose business.

Renuart never read a 2008 report from Planned Parenthood on abortions because it doesn't exist. Politifact checked and found that Renuart got his numbers from conservative anti-abortion blogs. Politifact rated Renuart's claim false.