Planned Parenthood releases annual report showing increase in abortions in 2015

Planned Parenthood has released its annual report this week, showing increases in taxpayer funding and abortions performed in 2015.

The report indicated that Planned Parenthood performed 328,848 abortions in 2015, 4,349 more than the previous year.

While the number of abortions increased, there were decreases in contraception, breast exams and overall patient numbers, according to Life News.

The abortion provider saw 2.4 million patients in 2015, which is about 100,000 fewer than the previous year and about half a million fewer than five years ago. Contraception services, which has been promoted as Planned Parenthood's primary service, dropped from 2.94 million to 2.8 million in the past two years.

Despite the decrease, Planned Parenthood executives had renewed their call to keep its half billion dollars in federal funding.

"Anti-women's health politicians will jump at any opportunity — no matter how baseless — to attack our organization," the report stated while referring to those who oppose the organization and its abortion services as "extremists."

Melanie Israel, a research associate for the DeVos Center for Religion & Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation, noted that there was also a decline in Planned Parenthood's prenatal services. The abortion chain only provided 9,419 in 2015–2016, compared to 17,419 in the previous year.

The report appeared to reinforce the findings of an investigation carried out by the pro-life organization LiveAction. The group had contacted 97 Planned Parenthood clinics searching for prenatal care but were turned away by 92 facilities.

The report also revealed that Planned Parenthood received $554.6 million in taxpayer funding, which is up from $553.7 million the previous year.

Planned Parenthood has also reported an increase in its excess revenue and net assets. The organization's excess revenue in the fiscal year 2015 was around $59 million, and its net assets amounted to more than $1.4 billion. For the fiscal year 2016, its excess revenue increased to $77.5 million, while its net assets totaled more than $1.5 billion.

The latest report came just as Congress is considering a budget reconciliation bill that would include a provision to exclude Planned Parenthood affiliates from receiving Medicaid reimbursements for one year after the enactment of the bill.

There have been speculations that Planned Parenthood did not release its report in January, its usual timeframe, because of the efforts of state and federal lawmakers to defund the organization.

Earlier this year, Planned Parenthood executives received an offer to increase the organization's taxpayer funding if it stops performing abortions. However, CEO Cecile Richards rejected the offer, calling it "obscene and insulting."