Biden admin. used code word ‘Benghazi’ to hide COVID-era loans to Planned Parenthood: senator

Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate whether the Biden administration illegally gave the nation’s largest abortion provider COVID-era loans through the Small Business Administration by using the code word “Benghazi” in communications.

On Monday, Ernst, who chairs the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, said documents obtained by the Oversight Project from the SBA show the Biden administration used the code word “Benghazi” to thwart Freedom of Information Act requests related to funding of Planned Parenthood. 

Even though Planned Parenthood and its affiliates were deemed ineligible to receive funds intended for small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization collected approximately $90 million in forgivable Paycheck Protection Program loans.

Emails Ernst shared on Tuesday appear to show an SBA official, Peggy Hamilton, and former SBA Administrator Isabella Guzman using the code word to hide discussions about loans to Planned Parenthood.

Guzman reportedly concealed a 2021 meeting about Planned Parenthood by using the word “Benghazi” in the subject line of an email, followed by “(PPP/PPH) Decisions.”

“If code words were used to evade congressional oversight into $90+ million in COVID-era loans to a top Biden political ally, there must be accountability!” Ernst said.

In January, the SBA issued letters to 38 affiliates of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, demanding they prove eligibility to receive more than $88 million in COVID-era relief or return the funds.

“At the height of the pandemic, affiliates of Planned Parenthood took $88 million in taxpayer dollars to fund their abortion-on-demand agenda — and the Biden Administration made sure they got nearly every cent forgiven, even after the first Trump Administration protested,” SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said in a statement at the time.

“Six years later, the Trump SBA holds the same conviction: Planned Parenthood Federation of America was never eligible to receive a dime in pandemic-era relief from taxpayers. As part of the review underway, not only will we expose the Planned Parenthood affiliates who took advantage of the American people — we will take every necessary step to force every bad actor to pay it back.”

Planned Parenthood did not immediately respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, head of the grassroots pro-life activist organization Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, thanked Ernst, Loeffler and other “allies in Congress for tirelessly pursuing truth, justice and restitution.”

“Just when we think the Democrats’ extremism can’t get more shocking, we see the lengths they’ll go to in protecting the Big Abortion industry,” Dannenfelser said in a statement Monday. “They knew letting Planned Parenthood help itself to taxpayer-funded Covid loans was illegal — so they tried to cover their tracks using, of all things, the national horror of Benghazi.”

Dannenfelser said that Planned Parenthood’s numbers show that it continues “to break records for the number of unborn children’s lives taken in a single year,” while the healthcare services it provides have declined.

Earlier this month, Planned Parenthood released its annual report for 2024 to 2025, revealing it performed 434,450 abortions in 2023 to 2024. It also received $832 million in government health service reimbursements and grants, accounting for 38% of its revenue.

According to an analysis by the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, the number of abortions at Planned Parenthood reached a record high, increasing by 8% compared to the previous year.

Since 2014, the number of cancer screenings and prevention services it offers has dropped by 43%, including a 55% decrease in breast cancer screenings and a 38% decline in Pap tests.

“Women looking for help related to their pregnancy at Planned Parenthood are overwhelmingly sold an abortion instead of given prenatal care, miscarriage care or help making an adoption plan,” Dannenfelser said.

“They have even been exposed by The New York Times for injuring women and providing horrifyingly substandard so-called ‘care’ while funneling tens of millions into political activism and endless lawfare.”

In February 2025, The New York Times reviewed multiple documents and legal filings related to Planned Parenthood facilities nationwide and conducted interviews with more than 50 current and former executives and staff.

The outlet highlighted accounts from women who accused the organization of poor care, including Nakara Alston. Alston delivered her baby at 12 weeks after paying for an abortion at a Planned Parenthood facility, and the child died shortly after birth.

Staff members at a Planned Parenthood facility in Omaha, Nebraska, also told the newspaper about an incident in which sewage from a backed-up toilet leaked into a recovery room and remained there for two days. Employees attempted to stop the leak by placing exam table pads under the bathroom door, but patients still vomited from the smell.

“For the first time last year, under the leadership of House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Congress defunded Big Abortion businesses of over half a billion in Medicaid dollars in the Working Families Tax Cuts,” Dannenfelser said.

“But absent further action, that defunding measure expires this July 4. This is now a basic pro-life policy expectation, and the GOP base overwhelmingly supports it,” she said. “We urge Congress to stand strong and do everything in its power to pass a reconciliation bill that keeps Big Abortion defunded. Taxpayers should never be forced to fund the brutality of abortion.”