Medicaid Abortion:

Medicaid abortion funding experiments have so far proven to be counter-productive. For example, the most recently documented, Washington state's Take Charge pilot program, has produced an increase in both abortion and tax dollars spent on abortion and childbirth services. Research done by the independent web site Abortion in Washington has revealed the number of abortions performed by the program's leading partner, Planned Parenthood of Western Washington, has been increasing by 11% per year during the pilot's term. In addition, the much-anticipated cost savings to taxpayers have failed to materialize.

Washington State's "Take Charge" is an experimental Medicaid section 1115 Waiver program that began in 2001 to provide free contraceptives to low-income women through Planned Parenthood offices as well as Community Health Clinics in the hope that with more women using contraceptives the number of unwanted pregnancies would decline, which would subsequently lead to a decline in the number of high cost Medicaid-paid births, a decline in the number of abortions performed, and a reduction in the tax burden on the State and its residents. When the program began, Washington State was paying out about $200 million a year for childbirth services under Medicaid. Over the past 7 years, since Take Charge's inception, that figure has shot up 50%, to $300 million.

Taxpayers' costs have increased and so have the number of abortions.

The only one who benefited from Take Charge in Washington is Planned Parenthood. Under the Take Charge program, they have seen their annual revenues skyrocket from about $17 million to near $35 million a year and a spokesman for Planned Parenthood has confirmed that they used the profits from the Take Charge program to open up new abortion clinics. Even Planned Parenthood's own annual report reveals that 70% of their 150,000 client visits were funded by Take Charge. Washington State was then left to cover the cost of an abortion or a Medicaid birth.

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