Planned Parenthood is marking its 95th anniversary as an organization this week, but, despite the shiny gloss its president Cecile Richards uses to try to paint a pretty picture on its work, it’s now best known as the biggest abortion business.
“This week, Planned Parenthood turns 95, and let me tell you, we’ve never looked better,” Richards says in a column running in the Bellingham Herald newspaper marking the anniversary.
Richards describes the effort earlier this year to revoke taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood because of its status as the nation’s largest abortion business, but she defends the organization as if it is a legitimate health care provider.
“When Planned Parenthood’s ability to provide health care was under grave attack from congressional leaders this past spring, more than 1 million people stood up to defend the essential health care provided by nonprofit Planned Parenthood health centers in communities throughout this country,” she said. “Their motivation was clear. One in five women in the United States has relied on a Planned Parenthood center for quality health care.”
Richards talks about needing to keep the abortion business young by attracting new clients and new customers and using the latest technology to reach them.
“Online, Planned Parenthood websites, including Planned Parenthood En Espanol, receive an estimated 2.6 million visits each month from people seeking real health care information in real time. On top of that, through Planned Parenthood mobile, text and chat, we are the go-to source for health information that helps young people make responsible decisions, 24/7,” Richards writes. “So when we say Planned Parenthood is 95 years young, we aren’t kidding. And we had better stay young – because even as millions of people count on Planned Parenthood, there are some politicians working to turn the clock back when it comes to women’s health.”
“But we are here to stay,” Richards adds. “Planned Parenthood was founded to make sure women could plan their pregnancies. Ninety-five years later, we are still committed to a world where all people are empowered to live healthy lives, without fear of unintended pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections, a world where young people can delay pregnancy until they are ready to support a family. In short, a world with Planned Parenthood.”
Although she doesn’t mention the word abortion anywhere in her article, Planned Parenthood’s mainstay is abortion.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s own figures show Planned Parenthood affiliates nationwide did 332,278 surgical abortions or abortions using the dangerous RU 486 abortion during in 2009.
That’s 2.5 percent more abortions than the September 2010 report the abortion business released covering 2008 and showing it doing 324,008 abortions, which was a 6.1 percent increase over the 305,310 abortions it did in 2007. The 2007 figure was itself a 5.3 percent increase over the 289,750 abortions Planned Parenthood did in 2006.
With approximately 1.2 million abortions done annually in the United States via surgical abortions or the mifepristone abortion drug, Planned Parenthood has increased its share of the abortion industry to 27.6 percent of all abortions done annually.
Planned Parenthood has been on the receiving end of significant negative publicity related to undercover videos showing its officials helping investigators posing as sex traffickers obtain abortions and STD testing for underage girls who are victims of the sex trade. The abortion business has defended itself in part by attempting to show that abortions constitute a small percentage of its overall services.
However, the numbers make it clear that women who are pregnant who come to Planned Parenthood receive only abortion services rather than help and support. The document shows
Planned Parenthood provided prenatal services to merely 7,021 women and referred only 977 women for adoption services. These numbers were a 25 percent drop in prenatal care clients and a whopping 59 percent decline in adoption referrals from the 2,405 adoption referrals in 2008. The abortion business helped only 9,433 prenatal clients in 2008, down substantially from the 11,000 women it provided prenatal care to in 2007 — showing health care given to pregnant woman has fallen substantially over the years.
As a result, 97.6 percent of pregnant women going to Planned Parenthood are sold abortions while less than 2.4 percent of pregnant women received non-abortion services including adoption and prenatal care. That’s up from 96.5 percent of pregnant women going to Planned Parenthood getting abortions in 2008.
The Planned Parenthood report shows it now does 340 abortions for every one adoption referral and 47 abortions for every one prenatal care client. He said Planned Parenthood’s own records now show 5,320,095 surgical and medical abortions done at Planned Parenthood centers from 1970 through the end of 2009.
Jim Sedlak, vice president of the pro-life group American Life League, notes that in the state of North Carolina alone, Planned Parenthood is responsible for turning abortion into a big business and markedly driving up the number of abortions.
“In 1970, there were 1,357 abortions reported in North Carolina. In 1971, coinciding with the opening of Planned Parenthood’s first facility in Charlotte, 4,378 abortions were reported–an increase of 223 percent,” he explains. “That number almost doubled in 1972, with 8,365 abortions reported. In 1973, when Roe v. Wade decriminalized abortion across the U.S., 11,935 abortions were reported. By 2002, the number of North Carolina abortions had risen to 25,883.”
“Across the nation, Planned Parenthood receives almost one million dollars per day from government grants and programs. In 2009, Planned Parenthood facilities killed 332,278 innocent preborn babies, over 6,300 per week,” he continued. “It is government money that is keeping the abortion giant alive, along with the much-needed community support. When we tell the truth about Planned Parenthood, community support wanes. When we cut off funding, the evil abortion machine cannot run and will begin shutting down facilities.”
