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Facts about Planned Parenthood

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”  — John 10:10

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life…”  — Declaration of Independence

In the wake of abortion videos released by the Center for Medical Progress, Congress is debating defunding Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider.  The government provides 41% of all Planned Parenthood revenue totaling $528.4 million in 2013. That same year, Planned Parenthood reported that it performed 10,590,433 “total services” and 327,653 (or 3.1%) of those services were abortions. Opponents claim that Planned Parenthood’s business is as much as 94% abortion. What is the truth?

The main objection to defunding Planned Parenthood is that it would deprive women of women’s health services. A point overlooked by the media is that Planned Parenthood isn’t the only provider of women’s services. Even in Mississippi, ranked 51st in the U.S. for women’s health, women are still able to obtain “women’s services” at any hospital and many clinics. Since Mississippi has only one Planned Parenthood office (which happens to be 1,500 feet from a hospital), defunding Planned Parenthood will not deprive access to healthcare for a single woman in the state. Never mind the fact that Planned Parenthood is not a significant provider of primary care to women anywhere.

According to their 2013-2014 Annual Report, Planned Parenthood saw 2.7 million patients and performed 327,653 abortions. This means PP performs an abortion on about 1 out of 8 patients (12%). The same report indicates that another “516,000 unintended pregnancies [were] averted” with emergency “contraceptive services.” So depending on how abortion is defined, Planned Parenthood facilitates abortion for up to 1 out of every 3 patients (31.3%) that visit! These numbers are likely very conservative since the 2.7 million patients may not be unique visitors but returning customers.

[Note that Planned Parenthood gave just 1,880 “Adoption Referrals” totaling 0.01% of their services provided.]

Of course, all services are not equal. A pregnancy test is not equal in time, effort, or cost as an abortion. The CDC reports that 98.7% of abortions are carried out in the first trimester and cost about $500 each. At that cost, abortions total 12.6% of all revenue** and 19.3% of all Medical Services provided.***

Planned Parenthood advocates say that federal funds are not used to perform abortion except in the cases of rape, incest, or the life of the mother in accordance with the Hyde Amendment. However, the fungibility of funding refutes this premise; any funds received offset expenses enabling the organization to provide more of its priority products which, in the case of Planned Parenthood, is abortion. Planned Parenthood supporters rationalize this pointing to the use of federal funds for faith-based organizations under President George W. Bush. But this is a specious distraction at best; the exercise of religion is a legitimate Constitutional issue unlike the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion under the guise of an inherent right to privacy.

Planned Parenthood was founded by Margaret Sanger in 1921 as the American Birth Control League. Sanger was vocal believer in eugenics and even stated, “In this matter [of eugenics], the example of the inferior classes, the fertility of the feeble-minded, the mentally defective, the poverty-stricken classes, should not be held up for emulation…” and “The most merciful thing that a large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.” According to the Susan B. Anthony List, “In a recently filed tax return, Planned Parenthood stated as part of their mission statement that they are committed to ‘a U.S. population of stable size in an optimum environment.'”

Refuting Presidential candidate Ben Carson’s claim that “[Sanger] was not particularly enamored with black people. And one of the reasons that you find most of their clinics in black neighborhoods is so that you can find way to control that population,” The Washington Post wrote,

“At one point, in 1934, [Sanger] even crafted a proposed law that included this provision: ‘Feeble-minded persons, habitual congenital criminals, those afflicted with inheritable disease, and others found biologically unfit by authorities qualified judge should be sterilized or, in cases of doubt, should be so isolated as to prevent the perpetuation of their afflictions by breeding.’ Sanger said she wanted “to give certain dysgenic groups in our population their choice of segregation or sterilization,” which some have interpreted as a reference to concentration camps.”

Even the Washington Post acknowledged a racial bias in that Sanger “aimed” initial clinics at largely Italian and Jewish neighborhoods and ultimately recruited black leaders to promote “The Negro Project” to bring abortion clinics to black populations in the South. The result? Today, black women are 3 times more likely to have an abortion than white women.

Ultimately, Congress is not arguing over whether Planned Parenthood exist but whether federal funds not subsidize them. Undoubtedly that fact will be lost in Washington, DC. Regardless, let your Senators and Representatives know what you think.

Links:

Calculations:

* 327,653 Abortions ÷ 10,590,433 Total Services = 0.031 (3.1%)

** $500/Abortion x 327,653 Abortions ÷ $1,303,400,000 Total Revenue = 0.126 (12.6%)

***$500/Abortion x 327,653 Abortions ÷ [65% x $1,303,400,000 Total Revenue] = 0.193 (19.3%)

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