Planned Parenthood Ups Number of Abortion Centers, More Sell Abortion Drug

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Mar 5, 2009   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Planned Parenthood Ups Number of Abortion Centers, More Sell Abortion Drug

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 5
, 2009

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A new report indicates that Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion business, has increased the number of centers that do abortions. The report indicates Planned Parenthood is increasingly relying on the dangerous mifepristone (RU 486) abortion drug.

The leading pro-abortion group has been consolidating its abortion and family planning centers and local affiliates to cut costs in the midst of a troubled economy and the new numbers reflect that.

At the end of 2008, the total number of Planned Parenthood centers dropped from 855 in 2007 to 844 last year. The number of local affiliates of the Planned Parenthood federation decreased from 108 to 99.

While Planned Parenthood cuts its total number of centers providing non-abortion services, the number of abortion facilities is in the rise. It jumped to 295 last year from 287 the year prior.

Though Planned Parenthood is working hard to change its image from an abortion business to a women’s health care outlet, the numbers make it clear that more of its resources are going into doing abortions.

The numbers also show that the abortion business is putting more of its weight behind using the dangerous abortion drug that has killed more than a dozen women worldwide and injured more than 1,200 in the United States alone.

While the number of surgical abortion centers it runs dropped from 179 to 174 during the last year, the number of places with the mifepristone abortion drug rose from 108 to 121.

Jim Sedlack, the head of STOPP Planned Parenthood, is the man behind the numbers and he provides LifeNews.com with his insight of the latest national data.

"This information shows that Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion chain in the country, is focusing more on its medical abortion business," he confirms. "In the span of the last two years, Planned Parenthood has increased its number of facilities performing medical abortions by 61."

Sedlack also notes that Planned Parenthood is cutting its express clinics — located in rural areas and suburban shopping malls. They were once considered the main avenue of expansion prior to the economy going south.

"After collecting and looking through the data on Planned Parenthood clinics across the U.S., it is clear to see that Planned Parenthood is increasing its abortion business and has closed down many express clinics," he said.

The pro-life advocate also points out that the decline in the number of Planned Parenthood centers doesn’t mean no new facilities are cropping up.

"Since the previous survey conducted in 2007, 26 Planned Parenthood clinics were removed from the list and 15 clinics were added," he said.

The most recent Planned Parenthood annual report also confirms that it is doing more abortions and providing less help for pregnant women.

The April 2008 report shows that Planned Parenthood did 289,750 abortions, an increase over the 264,943 abortions it did during the 2005-2006 fiscal year. That’s a whopping nine percent increase even though the number of abortions nationally are on the decline.

The number of abortions dwarfs the number of clients receiving prenatal care — which totaled just 11,058 in the new annual report. That number is almost a 20 percent decline from the 2005-2006 total of 13,261.

The number of Planned Parenthood adoption referrals is also miniscule and continues to drop.

The previous annual report showed a scant 2,413 referrals and the abortion business made three less in the last fiscal year.

The adoption and prenatal numbers are also surprising given the increase in the total number of clients at Planned Parenthood. The pro-abortion group had 3.14 million customers in 2006-2007, which represented a 2.5 percent increase or almost 80,000 more customers than the year prior.

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