|
|
|
|
PPFA's Ever-Expanding
Abortion Empire Part Three of Three By Dave Andrusko No one would ever accuse Planned Parenthood of trying to make abortion "rare," but recent decisions by the $1 billion corporation conclusively demonstrate not only that PPFA is expanding the number of abortions it performs, but that it is also bent on cornering the market. And to do so it is not shy about muscling its own affiliates. We talked last month about how Planned Parenthood is going to "standardize its operations" and reportedly require all affiliates to perform abortions. That news spilled out in a story written by the Corpus Christi Caller covering the decision of what is now known as the Family Planning of the Coastal Bend to drop its affiliation with PPFA (www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/Dec10/nv122310.html). A subsequent interview with the Daily Caller spelled out that indeed PPFA is expanding its already enormous reach. In a statement Lisa David, senior vice president of Health Services Support for Planned Parenthood, explained that PPFA is implementing a broad "new patient services initiative." The statement talked about a variety of services that affiliates will have to begin providing in the next two years, adding "that abortion services will be offered in at least one clinic per affiliate. However, a waiver may be obtained in the case of "unique local circumstances,'" according to Amanda Carey of the Daily Caller. Last Sunday, under the headline, "Planned Parenthood may double the number of N.J. abortion clinics while expanding nationwide," the New Jersey Star Ledger reported, "The Planned Parenthood Federation of America has announced a national expansion that could double the number of abortion clinics it operates in New Jersey from three to six by 2013," according to reporter Susan Livio. "The national group wants one abortion site operating in each of its 85 regions or affiliates by the end of 2013, David said. New Jersey has five affiliates, and two operate abortion clinics: The Central Jersey affiliate, at its Shrewsbury center in Monmouth County; and the Mercer County affiliate, at its Trenton and Hamilton facilities," Livio writes. "That could mean three more abortion sites in the state, unless the affiliates convince the national office more are not needed." Perhaps the most revealing paragraph in Livio's story came late. "New Jersey does not lack abortion services. According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, there were 75 nonprofit and for-profit abortion providers that terminated 54,160 pregnancies in 2008, the most recent data available," Livio reported. Perhaps PPFA's real motivation for a series of recent moves may have been explained in the next sentence: "Abortions have declined since 2005, when there were 61,150 pregnancies terminated by 85 providers." As discussed previously, PPFA has 95 affiliates and 865 health centers, according to its latest annual report, which covers the 2008-09 fiscal year, a sharp reduction caused by a series of mergers. The group is said to have had more than double that number in 1979 (see NRL News, March 2008). Many of the larger, more profitable affiliates have gobbled up the smaller ones as the organization becomes leaner and quite literally, as the record number of abortions shows, meaner. The 2008-09 report showed Planned Parenthood received $363.2 million in government grants and contracts during the year. Its affiliates performed more than 324,000 abortions in 2008--an increase of a whopping 6%. While PPFA's Annual Report does not break out what portion of that $363.2 million came from the FEDERAL government, the attached chart [http://www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/Dec10/nv121710.html]does show the correlation between increased government funding to PPFA and increased abortions conducted by PPFA. Please send your comments on Today's News & Views and National Right to Life News Today to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you like, join those who are following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/daveha. |