Washington D.C., May 15, 2014 / 01:02 am

Pro-life advocates have drawn attention to a report showing that businessman Warren Buffett's charitable foundation has given more than $1.2 billion to abortion providers and advocacy groups.

Buffett is "ensuring the destruction of millions of children worldwide," Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, told the Media Research Center's Culture and Media Institute.

She characterized Buffett as the "sugar daddy of the entire pro-abortion movement."

Buffett, chairman of the Berkshire Hathaway investment company, is one of the wealthiest men in the world; his estimated wealth peaked at $62 billion in 2008.

The Culture and Media Institute uncovered the details of Buffett's abortion funding by examining tax forms for the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, which Warren Buffett heads. The foundation has several billion dollars in assets, and is named for his deceased first wife and was previously called the Buffett Foundation.

The institute's report, drawing on forms for the years 2001 to 2012, found that Buffett's foundation has given over $289 million to Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the U.S.

Another $211 million went to U.K.-based Marie Stopes International, $85 million to the National Abortion Federation, $29 million to the Guttmacher Institute, and $24 million to NARAL Pro-Choice America.

The foundation has given over $32 million to EngenderHealth, which performs sterilizations in Vietnam.  Another $23 million has gone to the Population Council, which helped begin the clinical trials to win FDA approval of mifepristone, an abortifacient drug.

The foundation provided millions of dollars to Catholics for a Free Choice, now known as Catholics for Choice; the U.S. bishops' conference has said that the organization is not a Catholic organization, and promotes positions contrary to Catholic teaching.

The Culture and Media Institute said that of the 545 stories about Buffet and interviews with him on ABC, CBS and NBC since 2001, only one mentioned his link to abortion funding.

Lila Rose, president of the pro-life advocacy group Live Action, said the funding of abortion groups is a "huge scandal," suggesting that Buffett's business could be damaged if his abortion funding became better known.