A Congressional Budget Office analysis found that defunding Planned Parenthood could increase federal spending on Medicaid and other programs.
The office, which provides nonpartisan analysis for Congress, released the findings Monday, the same day the Senate blocked a bill to defund the women’s health organization.
The analysis was conducted after the staff of Rep. Mike Enzi, R-Wyoming, a cosponsor of the Senate bill, asked the CBO to weigh in on the matter. The office said some of the services Planned Parenthood provides would be used less if the group was defunded, leading to additional births and more federal spending.
“In addition, some of those children would themselves qualify for Medicaid and possibly for other federal programs,” said the letter, which did not specify how much federal spending would increase.
The office also said that if funding was pulled, most Medicaid services currently obtained through Planned Parenthood would instead be obtained from other health clinics and medical practitioners, but not all of them. That would result in a decline in the use of Medicaid services.
Multiple Republican presidential candidates and other lawmakers have called for the group to lose the more than $500 million it receives in federal funding following the release of multiple videos accusing the nonprofit of illegally selling aborted fetus organs and tissues.
The number of lawmakers threatening to shut down the federal government unless Planned Parenthood is defunded is growing.
Eighteen lawmakers last week sent a letter calling for Planned Parenthood funding to be tied to spending legislation, vowing not to support any spending bill until the nonprofit no longer receives government funds.
On Tuesday afternoon, however, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said there will be “no more government shutdowns.”