When the news broke last week that an association of Texas family planning groups won control of $13 million in Title X funding formerly directed by the state of Texas, the name “Planned Parenthood” was conspicuously missing. As of this writing, STOPP researchers are still unable to find a list of members of this association that was able to grab the Title X funding away from the state of Texas in order to circumvent Texas’ new tier system of awarding the money, which placed Planned Parenthood and other abortion-affiliated businesses on the lowest tier of priority for the funding.
The Women’s Health and Family Planning Association of Texas (WHFPT)—the association that received the grant award—has a website that does not mention names of member organizations. However, upon searching, STOPP found an as yet unscrubbed entry on www.volunteermatch.com, which has this to say:
Founded in 1977, the Women’s Health and Family Planning Association of Texas (formerly Texas Family Planning Association) is a membership organization of nonprofit agencies that provide reproductive health care. Its membership includes Planned Parenthood affiliates, health science centers, hospital districts, health departments, community action agencies, non-affiliated clinics, and interested individuals. The Women’s Health and Family Planning Association of Texas combines careful public policy research, passionate advocacy and varied professional education programs to improve the health of and well-being of women and their families throughout Texas. [Emphasis added.]
Those who have been following the battle against Planned Parenthood sex education in Texas schools will notice immediately the description of the relationship between Planned Parenthood and health science centers in developing “educational materials on reproductive issues” and spinning out “public policy research” to ensure that its brand of sex ed has the only place at the table in schools. Planned Parenthood has been working overtime to cover up these relationships.
As for the passionate advocacy, once again we see our tax dollars at work advocating for inclusion of Planned Parenthood smut and the exclusion of abstinence until marriage education and traditional family formation.
And speaking of cover-ups, let’s juxtapose the volunteermatch.com description of WHFPT with the one that appears currently on the WHFPT website:
WHFPT is a membership organization of health science centers, hospital districts, health departments, community action agencies, community-based health care clinics and individuals that together serve over 800,000 low-income women.
It seems something is missing from the description of this organization that’s been around since 1977. Oh, yes, it was that inconsequential item: “Planned Parenthood affiliates.”
But we digress. Let’s get back to the information from the volunteermatch.com website about WHFPT:
Mission Statement
We advocate for the protection of reproductive health care and reproductive rights for all women in Texas: – Seeking increased funding for family planning services for low income women and teens who need them.
– Reducing teen pregnancy through support of programs for high risk kids, and the promotion of comprehensive sexuality education in public schools.
– Preserving access to safe and legal abortion.
– Developing educational materials on reproductive issues. [Emphasis added.]
We did not find mention of “preserving safe and legal abortion” on the WHFPT website.
It certainly appears that hiding behind the association name, Planned Parenthood bypassed the will of the people of the state of Texas to defund the abortion giant and went directly to its bosom buddies in the federal government to secure $13 million to cover the first six months of operations for the fiscal year 2013. WHFPT now has control of Title X funding in Texas for three years.
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Fran Hagerty, spokesperson for WHFPT, is credited with telling the Houston Chronicle that only two of the 34 clinics in her association are affiliated with Planned Parenthood.
We still have not seen an association membership list, nor have we seen a list of grantee organizations that will actually receive the funding. What we have seen and have in our possession is the latest Federal Form 990 available for WHFPT, a 2009 filing, which lists the names of officers, directors, and key employees. Scanning the list, we recognized the names of several Planned Parenthood executives.
Listed as past president was Pam Smallwood, at that time CEO of Planned Parenthood of Waco. Treasurer was Tony Thornton, the Planned Parenthood CEO in Lubbock. He was fired by Planned Parenthood after being arrested for indecent exposure at a Lubbock baseball field in March of 2012.
Listed as members in the 2009 form were Amanda Stukenberg, then CEO of Planned Parenthood of South Texas, and Karen Pieper Hildebrand, Planned Parenthood of West Texas CEO and president. Pieper’s Odessa facility closed last year due to funding cuts. Also listed as a member is Patricio Gonzales, CEO of Planned Parenthood Association of Hidalgo County.
Why all the obfuscation? STOPP calls on Ms. Hagerty to release her membership list—and more importantly the list of agencies that will receive the Title X funding—to the public immediately. We are, after all, funding this fiasco with our tax dollars. If she has nothing to hide—if she is not providing cover for Planned Parenthood—then the full list, including amounts of funding to be received by each entity, should be forthcoming, and with great haste.
LifeNews.com Note: Rita Diller is the national director of American Life League’s Stop Planned Parenthood Project.
