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Cut off tax
dollars for abortions By BARBARA L. LYONS Editors note. This op-ed first appeared in a slightly different form March 7 in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. The Planned Parenthood Federation of America is a $1 billion operation that receives over $360 million in taxpayer dollars each year. It is also the nation's and the state's abortion giant, performing 27% of abortions in the United States. PPFA and its affiliates performed 332,278 of the nation's 1.2 million abortions in 2009. The amount of money it has received in state and federal grants has doubled since 1998. During that same period, the number of abortions performed by PPFA increased at rates that nearly match the funding increases. Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin operates three large abortion clinics, which kill thousands of unborn children each year. PPFA adoption referrals fell from 2,405 in 2008 to just 977 in 2009. The abortion-to-adoption referral ratio is 340 abortions for every adoption referral. PPFA prenatal care assistance fell from 9,440 in 2008 to 7,021 in 2009. PPFA used Iowa as a testing ground for over 2,000 webcam RU-486 chemical abortions, with plans to export this procedure to other parts of the country. The pregnant woman is not examined by a doctor and receives information by video. Use of the drug in this manner is off-label from approved Food and Drug Administration protocol. PPFA's strategic course involves expanding its abortion business nationwide, partly by requiring all of its affiliates to perform abortions by 2013. So, how does PPFA justify its claim for such a huge pot of taxpayer dollars? The reasons are disingenuous at best. While PPFA claims that abortion is just 3% of its services, it admits elsewhere that actually 12% of its customers have abortions. Even this underestimates the significance of abortion to Planned Parenthood's bottom line since, at going rates, abortion would account for at least a third of its total clinic revenues. PPFA "counsels" pregnant women and then refers them to its own abortion clinics from which it profits financially - a horrendous conflict of interest. The big gun PPFA uses to "sell" its need for taxpayer funds is that abortions will increase if family planning taxpayer dollars are cut off. In reality, while PPFA taxpayer dollars doubled since 1998, the number of abortions it performed increased accordingly. Abby Johnson was on her way up the Planned Parenthood career ladder. She abruptly left after viewing an unborn child struggle for life during an ultrasound-guided abortion and because she was pressured to raise the abortion numbers in her clinic. To summarize, Planned Parenthood continues to be the most dominant pro-abortion force in Wisconsin, the country and the world. It is outrageous that taxpayers are forced to underwrite any organization that profits so immensely from the destruction of human life. Wisconsin Right to Life strongly supports efforts in Washington and Madison to prohibit taxpayer dollars from going to organizations like Planned Parenthood that are abortion providers. It's far past time to stop feeding the abortion giant. Barbara L. Lyons is executive director of Wisconsin Right to Life.
Part Three |