Abortion conglomerate Planned Parenthood is playing a crucial role in paving the way for a potential Joe Biden presidential administration, reportedly helping the Democrat’s transition team identify and hire White House staffers.
Planned Parenthood president Alexis McGill Johnson told Newsweek that the abortion rights organization is looking to get a return on its investment after splashing out around $45 million to help the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris ticket get elected. The group spent a whopping $10 million to paper the airwaves with Biden ads just in battleground states.
Johnson told Newsweek that the group is prepared to help Biden be “ready to hit the ground running day one” and that they’ve been aiding the Biden transition team in identifying new hires.
“We know that personnel is policy,” Johnson said. “So we’re making sure that those positions are filled with sexual and reproductive health champions.”
“[C]onversations with the Biden-Harris transition team, Johnson said, have been focused on appointments within the White House, the administration, and various federal agencies. Planned Parenthood and its allies have identified and recommended nearly 200 people for key positions,” Newsweek reported.
The group is also hoping that an incoming Biden administration will immediately prove its commitment to abortion rights, issuing an “executive order” within the first 100 days as a way of assuring Planned Parenthood supporters a Biden White House will make expanding abortion a legislative priority.
Johnson told Newsweek only that the group expects “an executive order on day one, within the first 100 days, that demonstrates the administration’s commitment to sexual and reproductive health care.”
The outlet speculates, however, that Johnson is pressing Biden to lift the so-called “global gag rule” that prevents foreign aid organizations and other non-governmental organizations from receiving federal funding if they provide or refer for abortions. The rule, also known as the “Mexico City policy,” prevents Planned Parenthood’s international outreach organizations from accessing American taxpayer funds, cutting down dramatically on their funding.
Planned Parenthood is also likely petitioning Biden to restore their access to the Title X Family Planning Program. The group voluntarily left the Title X program after the Trump administration issued a new edict, banning organizations receiving Title X grants from providing or referring patients for abortion except in extreme cases. Planned Parenthood was given the option to reorganize how they provide services, but they chose, instead, to drop their involvement with the Title X program.
Returning to Title X would certainly bump Planned Parenthood’s bottom line, as would a separate policy proposal being floated to Biden’s transition team — increasing and expanding federal grant opportunities for abortion providers.
“The Blueprint for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice, a policy agenda developed by a coalition of reproductive health and justice organizations, of which Planned Parenthood is a part, estimates the needed amount [of grant money] at $954 million,” Newsweek notes. “The program usually receives $280 million annually.”
That is a 300% jump in funding.
Planned Parenthood is also looking to Biden to repeal the Hyde Amendment, which prevents taxpayer money from flowing to abortion services through Medicaid.