Planned Parenthood 2001-02 Annual Report Released

By Randall K. O'Bannon, Ph.D.

Both the front and back covers feature a beautiful child, but the story inside the covers of Planned Parenthood's latest annual report is hardly one suitable for children. America's biggest abortion chain is doing ever more abortions and showing no signs of slowing down. This from an organization whose 2001-02 report is titled "Creating Hope for Humanity."

Counting the Killings

There were 213,026 abortions performed at Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) clinics in 2001, the highest annual total the group has reported in its 87-year history. In contrast, PPFA saw only 15,618 prenatal clients, or just 1 for every 13 abortion patients. Similarly, it saw just 282 infertility clients, proving once again that Planned Parenthood's plans typically don't involve parenthood.

Planned Parenthood clinics don't do adoptions, but they do sometimes refer patients to adoption services. Yet at the 875 "health centers" Planned Parenthood currently has scattered throughout 49 states (only Arkansas is Planned Parenthood-free) and the District of Columbia, there were only 1,951 adoption referrals, or just over 2 per clinic.

In its report, PPFA mentions some of its international abortion-related activities carried out through its Family Planning International Assistance (FPIA) program. However, it does not, as it has in previous years, tell how many abortions it performed in any of those countries.

It does mention that it "provided additional support to the successful campaign to legalize abortion" in Nepal, that FPIA launched 10 new (unspecified) FPIA projects in the Sudan and Nigeria, and that it provided assistance to 23 NGOs (non-governmental organizations) in Latin America and the Caribbean for "sexual health services." The report notes, "Clinic based projects provided many reproductive health services, including safe and legal abortion and post-abortion care."

Counting the Cash

Planned Parenthood reports $692.5 million in revenues for its fiscal year ending June 30, 2002, with $254.8 million coming from "Clinic Income" and $240.9 million coming from "Government Grants and Contracts." The rest came from "Private Contributions and Bequests" ($190.9 million) and other sources.

Recent surveys tell us that the average cost of a standard vacuum curettage abortion at 10 weeks now stands at $372 (see February's NRL News). This indicates that, at a minimum, Planned Parenthood probably took in at least $79 million, or nearly one-third of its total clinic income, from abortion. In fact the figure may be much, much higher.

We know from advertisements on the Internet and in the Yellow Pages that many Planned Parenthood clinics do abortions well into the second trimester. The average cost ranges between $774 when the baby is 16 weeks old to $1,179 for a child of 20 weeks of age.

If so, Planned Parenthood's income from abortion could be close to double the $79 million figure above. When one begins to see how great a portion of a clinic's income is abortion-related, it is easy to see why Planned Parenthood affiliates are adamantly pro-abortion.

With 35% of its budget coming from taxpayers' pockets, it is also easy to see why Planned Parenthood invests so much time, money, and effort in the political arena. On the expense side, Planned Parenthood indicates that it spent $35.8 million on "Public Policy."

The balance sheet is not explicit, but the text appears to indicate that some portion of the $22.4 million devoted to "Services to the Field of Family Planning" and the $19.5 million allotted for "Services to Affiliates" also goes towards abortion advocacy.

The text gives other examples of how the money is spent. With the help of special grants from the Educational Foundation of America, the Open Society Institute (funded by billionaire George Soros), the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, and an anonymous donor, Planned Parenthood "provided funding opportunities for affiliates to expand and improve their medical and surgical abortion services."

Counting on Congress and the Courts

Stating (incorrectly) that the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision "hangs on a razor-thin (one vote) majority in today's U.S. Supreme Court," Planned Parenthood's report says it has "launched an urgent campaign to save Roe," employing a special web site and print advertisements it says "raised public awareness."

In listing its accomplishments, Planned Parenthood takes special pride in its efforts to keep judges off the courts that might consider the cogency of the pro-life position. "Our activism," Planned Parenthood President Gloria Feldt says in her opening dialogue, "helped to defeat the appointment of anti-choice Judge Charles Pickering and, most recently, anti-choice Justice Priscilla Owen."

Planned Parenthood also touts judicial victories against Idaho's parental consent law and against efforts of the Missouri state legislature to cut funding to Planned Parenthood affiliates connected to abortion, and a lawsuit that would have required Planned Parenthood clinics to inform women about the link between abortion and breast cancer.

Counting on the Corruption of Science

In pursuit of its goal of being "a significant catalyst for the development and universal dissemination of new reproductive technologies," Planned Parenthood touts its heavy promotion of what it calls "medical abortion" which employs the powerful drug mifepristone (otherwise known as the chemical abortifacient RU 486). That this is an abortive, rather than "reproductive," technology seems to escape the writers of the report.

In addition to special training, tracking, and advertising for the product, Planned Parenthood says it performed abortions using mifepristone on 25,000 women, through 132 of its clinics. Exactly half, or 63 out of its 126 affiliates, were offering these chemical abortions.

The report also celebrates the creation of a bioethics board to address the ethics of "new reproductive technologies, including reproductive cloning." The report promises that "Planned Parenthood will be the voice of reason on bioethics and technology, not jumping to support or reject any advances before the science is sound."

Yet unmentioned in the report is Planned Parenthood's unabashed advocacy of so-called therapeutic cloning (the creation and deliberate destruction of embryos for medical research) which Feldt declares on the group's web site "would advance the treatment and prevention of debilitating and often fatal illnesses." Also conveniently left off is any mention of any past, present, or future financial stake Planned Parenthood may have or may have had in the provision of embryos or fetal tissue.*

Counting on the Cooperation of Minorities and Ministers

In light of the fact that 59.1% of all abortions are performed on minorities, it is not surprising to see Planned Parenthood pushing the theme of "diversity" in its latest annual report. Pictures of Asians, Hispanics, and African Americans (along with a few Caucasian celebrities) are scattered throughout the report.

In the dialogue that opens the report, Alfredo Vigil, a New Mexico physician who serves as Planned Parenthood's chairperson, expresses a desire for increasing diversity among the leadership of the organization's affiliates.

In addition to the diversity trainings, workshops, and retreats Planned Parenthood says it conducted, the report talks of education programs to "progressive organizations" such as the National Council of Negro Women, newsletters to Moslem and Arab communities, and the production of new abortion pamphlets in Spanish (Aborto Quirúrgico - - Preguntas y Respuestas and Eligiendo el Aborto - - Preguntas y Respuestas). Planned Parenthood also says it collaborated with the Hispanic Radio Network to produce and air Spanish-language spots about the abortifacient mifepristone and "other women's health care issues."

While some of its fundraising letters have in the past denigrated "religious political extremists" who oppose their agenda, the report here sunnily highlights the work of the PPFA Clergy Advisory Board which "leads a national program to increase public awareness of the spiritual, ethical, and moral dimensions of reproductive choice and to encourage clergy and lay religious leaders to support the Planned Parenthood mission."

One of Planned Parenthood's aims is to promote "comprehensive, medically accurate sexuality information" in classrooms, community centers, and houses of worship. The report talks about a Florida affiliate's FAITH program, which seeks to introduce "reproductive and sexual health information into the spiritual growth and enrichment programs of local faith-based organizations."

Counting on the Collapse of Common Sense

Following the introductory remarks of Feldt and Vigil, Planned Parenthood lists 13 "belief statements" which express its long-term vision. In addition to the pedestrian statements about diversity, equality, and being part of a "global movement," the report lists several affirmations that seem radically at odds with its role as America's leading abortion advocate.

Planned Parenthood says it believes in "the right to sexual and reproductive self determination that is non-coercive, non-exploitive, and responsible." The report says PPFA believes in "trusting individuals and providing them with information they need to make well-informed decisions about sexuality, family planning, and childbearing." However, it has loudly and consistently opposed informed consent or "right to know" legislation that would guarantee that women visiting their clinics had such information and weren't being coerced by a clinic counselor with a vested financial interest in a woman's decision.

Planned Parenthood says it believes in a passion for "caring" and for "confronting inhumane acts" and says it believes in "acting courageously, especially as allies with those who have little or no voice and little or no power." This rhetoric stands in stark contrast to the violent, inhumane destruction of over 200,000 innocent unborn children who epitomize "those who have little or no voice and little or no power."

Planned Parenthood speaks of "Creating hope for humanity" as the theme of its 2001-02 annual report and celebrates the "freedom to dream, to make choices," yet it denies those hopes and dreams and choices to those who hold humanity's future.

You can learn a lot just from looking at the pictures in Planned Parenthood's latest annual report. Fascinatingly enough, while the baby on the front cover offers a tired, blank stare, the baby on the back cover is smiling and happy. From what you read between the covers, any child that gets out of a Planned Parenthood clinic alive has every right to be.

*In the past, at least one Planned Parenthood clinic in Overland, Kansas, received money by "donating" fetal tissue obtained from abortions to a fetal tissue collector "renting" space from the clinic.