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Many of you have contacted AFL wanting clarification concerning Planned Parenthood’s funding, the services they provide in relation to abortion, and their political activity. We gladly provided the facts and decided it may be helpful to share the information here as well.
Here at Anglicans for Life, we get inquiries almost daily. Recently, we have had more than the usual number of calls and emails centering on a single topic: Planned Parenthood!
Specifically, inquirers wanted clarification concerning Planned Parenthood’s funding, the services they provide in relation to abortion, and their political activity. We gladly provided the facts, and decided it may be helpful to share the information here as well.
• Planned Parenthood is a not-for-profit organization that describes itself on its Income Tax Form 990 as a business that provides leadership in ‘achieving, through informed individual choice, a U.S. population of stable size in an optimum environment; in stimulating and sponsoring relevant biomedical, socioeconomic, and demographic research.’ Informally, they market themselves as ‘the nation’s leading sexual and reproductive health care provider and advocate.’
• Their Annual Report for July 2008 through June 2009 states that it received $404 million dollars of income from its Health Centers, $363 million from government (federal and state) grants and contracts, and $308 million in private contributions. The report also states that PP’s net assets equal almost $995 million dollars and “EXCESS OF REVENUE OVER EXPENSES EXCLUDING INVESTMENT LOSSES” was a little over $63 million.
• In 2009, PP performed 332,278 abortions, (an increase of 2.5 percent over 2008) provided pre-natal services to 7,021 women and made 977 adoption referrals. In other words, in 2009, 97.6 percent of Planned Parenthood’s services to pregnant women were for abortions while less than 2.4 percent of pregnant women received adoption referrals and prenatal care.
• Planned Parenthood has increased its number of abortions for 15 straight years. During that time, it has gone from performing 9.3 percent of all abortions in the United States to 27.5 percent.
• PP’s website reports that 54% of women using birth-control experience unintended pregnancies while taking the pill.
• Undercover videos shot by Live Action and Students for Life in the past 3 years have proven that Planned Parenthood covers up the rapes of minors, that they lie to women about the development of the unborn baby, and that they accept donations for abortions from racists. Recently seven more videos were released featuring Planned Parenthood employees aiding actors who were posing as human sex traffickers. In some of the footage, the Planned Parenthood workers offered suggestions as to how the traffickers can skirt the law and get contraception and abortions for underage girls and how the girls can continue to work immediately after their abortion.
• According to OpenSecrets Blog, an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics of federal lobbying records found that in 2010, Planned Parenthood and a California affiliate together spent more than $700,000 on federal lobbying efforts. PP’s political action committee, for example, donated more than $148,000 to federal candidates during the 2010 election cycle. The PAC spent more than $443,000 overall. Planned Parenthood also recorded $905,796 in independent expenditures during the 2010 cycle, money spent in support of, or in opposition to, federal political candidates, largely through advertisements.
We also had one email asking about the relationship between the Susan G. Komen Foundation and Planned Parenthood.
• As one of the largest non-profits working against breast cancer, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation donates to PP. Komen reports that 20 of their 122 affiliates have made donations to PP and last year, those contributions totaled $731,303.
Komen also confirmed that their affiliates contributed about $3.3 million to the abortion business from 2004-2009. According to a letter from the Komen organization, grants to PP have paid for: breast cancer and breast health education for nearly 160,000 women, clinical breast exams for more than 139,000 women, 4,866 mammograms and detection of 177 cases of breast cancer. Planned Parenthood clinics provide no mammograms. They offer only referrals to health centers, doctors, hospitals and labs for mammograms. PP’s breast exams are done by manual palpation, similar to a breast self-exam.
Abby Johnson, a former PP clinic director has also gone on record to share information based on her employment experience, she stated: “Planned Parenthood’s claim that abortions make up just 3 percent of its services is a gimmick. That number is actually closer to 12 percent, but strategically skewed by unbundling family planning services so that each patient shows anywhere from five to 20 “visits” per appointment (i.e., 12 packs of birth control equals 12 visits) and doing the opposite with abortion visits, bundling them together so that each appointment equals one visit. The resulting difference between family planning and abortion ‘visits’ is striking. It also claims to help reduce the number of abortions. Not only is this not what Planned Parenthood actually accomplishes, but its goal couldn’t be more opposite. As a Planned Parenthood clinic manager, I was directed to double the number of abortions our clinic performed in order to drive up revenue. In keeping, Planned Parenthood headquarters recently issued a directive mandating that all of its affiliates provide abortions by 2013.”
Planned Parenthood is a big, international organization with an aggressive business plan. It has various websites that reach a wide array of audiences, including our teenagers on the topic of sexual and reproductive health care. As parents, taxpayers, and responsible citizens, we need to be wise and aware of how Planned Parenthood is working in our communities and schools.
