Planned Parenthood recently released its latest annual report, showing its services and finances for 2011. As many pro-life advocates have noted, the report shows that Planned Parenthood is continuing to expand its abortion business, and its bottom line.
In addition, the report shows that Planned Parenthood’s breast care services are on the decline. Planned Parenthood performed 108,223 fewer breast exams in 2011 than it did in 2010. From 2009 to 2011, the number of breast exams provided by Planned Parenthood has fallen by over twenty percent. The pattern is clear: Planned Parenthood clinics are cutting back on breast care.
Breast exams have been a key public relations tool for the abortion giant. In February of 2012, Planned Parenthood waged a scorched-earth media battle with Susan G. Komen for the Cure over Komen’s decision to direct breast health grants elsewhere. Komen later caved and reinstated the funding—but not before Planned Parenthood raised over $3 million from well-meaning donors, who probably had no idea that Planned Parenthood’s breast care numbers had been plummeting long before the Komen debacle.
Breast care is also used to justify Planned Parenthood’s massive receipt of taxpayer money—over $542 million in 2011, according to the report. And during the 2012 presidential election, Planned Parenthood repeatedly invoked breast health services—including mammograms, which it does not actually provide—as a campaign talking point. Even President Obama himself got in on the act, claiming in a debate with Mitt Romney that “[T]here are millions of women all across the country who rely on Planned Parenthood for mammograms.” In fact, Planned Parenthood only provides mammogram referrals and manual breast exams, and its reports show that even these very basic services are on a steep decline.
The truth is that Planned Parenthood’s priorities are very clear. Every year, Planned Parenthood earns a larger share of the abortion market; currently, about a third of all abortion victims in the United States are killed at a Planned Parenthood facility. And every year, the increase in abortions at Planned Parenthood comes at the expense of legitimate women’s health services like breast exams.
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These trends are certain to continue in the coming years. In 2013, Planned Parenthood is implementing a new mandate: all of its affiliates must perform abortions, which will undoubtedly increase the number of children killed at Planned Parenthood clinics. But, tellingly, there is no such mandate for breast care.
Charmaine Yoest, the CEO of Americans United for Life and a breast cancer survivor, commented: “Planned Parenthood’s reports show that their business model is focused on a lucrative abortion agenda. Breast care, like prenatal care, is minimized in favor of a more profitable venture: abortion. Planned Parenthood’s business is abortion, not women’s health care.”
