In conversations, it is not uncommon for the question to arise:
- Why are people so concerned about Planned Parenthood?
- They help women, don’t they?
It’s a valid question that deserves an answer. Especially since it is calculated that by the age of 45, one in four women in America will have had an abortion. (14) (numbers in parenthesis refer to footnotes, at end)
- Core Business. The business of Planned Parenthood is Abortion. The vast bulk of its income comes from killing babies. It uses profit from government subsidies, such as Medicaid, to offset its operating expenses so that it can direct its income from abortions to other purposes.
- Political Influence. It has become a two-billion-dollar corporation (16) that spends millions of dollars ($45 Million on the 2020 U.S. elections) (11) to influence public policy. Here’s (17) the OpenSecrets.org
Circular Funding of Planned Parenthood:
- Planned Parenthood is fee for service.
- Planned Parenthood receives over $500 million in federal subsidies. Virtually every state in the US gives to Planned Parenthood through Family Planning subsidies.
- Your federal, state and in some instances local taxes subsidize Planned Parenthood business.
Your tax dollars free up other resources of Planned Parenthood to lobby elected allies to continue to fund and subsidize keep Planned Parenthood’s abortuary’s open. Thus the circular funding continues.
But there are other problems, such as PP’s efforts presenting curriculum in public schools which encourages teenagers to experiment with sex. Teens who experiment with sex often produce unexpected pregnancies … which, in today’s culture, are then often terminated via Planned Parenthood clinics.
Another concern is the connection between abortion providers and human trafficking. Traffickers profit from the prostitution income of their victims, but pregnancies are really inconvenient.
Planned Parenthood’s founder, Margaret Sanger, began the American Birth Control League in 1923, which went on to become Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She was a firm believer in eugenics, and strongly advocated for ‘selective breeding’ through birth control. [Definition: Eugenics – the practice or advocacy of controlled selective breeding of human populations (as by sterilization) to improve the population’s genetic composition. (9)]
Planned Parenthood aggressively brings lawsuits to muzzle criticism of its worldwide operations.
And perhaps the best resource we can guide you to (other than the Bible!) is Abby Johnson’s book, “unPlanned” – which we highly recommend. (Copyright 1983, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., www.tyndale.com) See also https://www.unplannedfilm.com/
THE MYTHS
Tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, and people will eventually come to believe it. That’s what Hitler’s propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, said. The observation is pertinent because Planned Parenthood presents itself as an advocate for women’s health, even as its abortions killed an estimated 169,540 female babies in 2018 (7).
THE MISREPRESENTATIONS
Planned Parenthood says (8), “… federal tax dollars don’t pay for abortions.” They also say (8), “most federal funding comes to Planned Parenthood in the form of reimbursements through Medicaid, the government-funded health insurance plan for people with low incomes.” Any accountant can describe how having your operating costs covered by government grants will free up your cash needs to be spent in other ways, which is what Planned Parenthood does. Their profits, as noted, go to encourage sexual promiscuity, curriculum in schools encouraging teens to sexually experiment, and to encourage (as Margaret Sanger did from the beginning) irresponsible behavior leading to pregnancy … which Planned Parenthood can fix via abortion.
THE DEBATE
Science, increasingly, argues that LIFE begins at conception. The National Right to Life organization (13) provides many of the studies and details – such as a baby’s heartbeat starting by the third week. It has always fascinated us that a photo of a baby animal evokes such emotional empathy, but a baby growing in a mom is so widely disregarded. Of course, we all know the arguments. Rape, incest, “saving the life of the mother” are most widely used but factually account for only a small percentage of abortions. The vast bulk is a result of a lifestyle decision – the woman finds herself pregnant and that presents a huge lifestyle issue. (That last sentence is not a value judgment.) Yet, especially today, there are many options other than abortion for that circumstance. The most preferable is the adoption of the child, but at the far end of the spectrum, it is now legal to “drop off” a newborn at a hospital without any legal consequences in New Jersey (so long as no crime has been committed). Doctors have testified that there are very, very few medical cases where a baby must be killed to save the physical life of the mother.
But, in reality, the changes that having a child bring to a mother and family – if the desires and circumstances are negative – is the issue. A choice. For too many, the choice is made to abort, in the belief that it presents an easier future outcome to the mother than the choice of life for that baby. Our culture, today, buys into such thinking.
Yet, God wants to preserve life. The Christian community, and members of many other faiths, are today stepping up to provide much greater support for women who face pregnancy and need help. We would argue that this is the best way to provide alternatives that allow a choice to preserve life. A listing of such sources would be beyond the scope of this article, but in our discussion about why Planned Parenthood is a focus of concern, our view is that Planned Parenthood’s primary focus is on the choice of abortion, because that’s what brings in the dollars to PP.
READ MORE ABOUT IT
Here are some sources you can access that provide more detail on the question of truth vs. consequences – regarding why people (like us) get worked up over Planned Parenthood:
- Planned Parenthood abortions: 346,000 in 2018 (1). COVID-19 deaths, world-wide, as of 3/28/20: 40,633 (10) * The Federalist, 2017 – https://thefederalist.com/2017/04/26/planned-parenthoods-organs-lamborghinis-exec-busted-trying-sell-baby-body-parts/ * National Review, 2007 – https://www.nationalreview.com/2007/07/whats-so-bad-about-planned-parenthood-kathryn-jean-lopez/
THE NUMBERS
346,000 – 2018 abortions by PP (1) 862,320 – 2017 abortions by PP (2) 926,190 – 2014 abortions by PP (3) 40% – PP’s share of market (4) $60 Million – federal tax dollars foregone when Trump banned Title X funding for abortion (5) 37% – proportion of its income paid by taxpayers through federal government grants and program (6)
FOOTNOTES / SOURCES
(1) Planned Parenthood 2018-2019 Annual Report, reported by Deborah Bunting, 1/7/20, on CBN News (2) Data from the Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of PP (3) Ibid. (4) Statistic by “LiveActionNews”, reported by Deborah Bunting, 1/7/20, on CBN News (5) Federal tax dollars previously going to PP that Trump’s Title X rule changes linked to restriction that they could not go to entities performing abortions or referring patients to abortion providers, reported by Deborah Bunting, 1/7/20, on CBN News (6) Reported by Deborah Bunting, 1/7/20, on CBN News (7) Based on 51%/49% birth ratio described in science journals (see Health News from NPR, “Why Are More Baby Boys Born Than Girls?”, March 30, 2015, 3:08 PM ET (8) see: https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/blog/how-federal-funding-works-at-planned-parenthood (9) definition by Merriam Webster dictionary, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eugenics (10) https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ (11) https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/abortion/478548-planned-parenthood-launches-45m-campaign-to-support-democrats-in (12) https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs//summary?id=D000000591 (13) https://www.nrlc.org/abortion/plannedparenthood/ (14) Jones, Rachel K., and Jenna Jerman. 2017b. “Population Group Abortion Rates and Lifetime Incidence of Abortion: United States, 2008–2014.” American Journal of Public Health 107, no. 12 (December 1): 1904–1909. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.uq.edu.au/10.2105/AJPH.2017.304042. (15) https://answersingenesis.org/sanctity-of-life/abortion/abortion-biblical-biological-philosophical-refutation/ (16) Planned Parenthood Annual Report, 6/30/19, net assets (https://www.plannedparenthood.org/uploads/filer_public/2e/da/2eda3f50-82aa-4ddb-acce-c2854c4ea80b/2018-2019_annual_report.pdf) (17) 2016 Contributions to political candidates, survey – https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs//totals?id=D000000591&cycle=2016
Your donation doesn’t go to Colorado or Washington DC. Your tax deductible donation stays right here in New Jersey for New Jersey. Join us as we protect and promote faith, freedom and the natural family.
You donate & we both benefit
Thank you for donating to our cause. Many donors have benefited from strategies which increase your tax deductible giving without having those dollars come out of your current lifestyle. You benefit with an increase in your annual after tax retirement income. To discuss these incredible strategies, which are long standing IRS acceptable, please contact our office.