LifeLink: Planned Parenthood

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August 2007

The 2005-2006 Planned Parenthood fiscal report has just been released, and they are still turning a profit with our tax dollars.  America’s largest abortion provider reported committing 264,943 abortions in 2005 at Planned Parenthood clinics across America—an increase of about 4% from the previous year.  Their presence and continued propaganda on “the importance of abortion” has enabled them to commit almost 4 million abortions since 1970.

Many people still believe that Planned Parenthood provides much-needed medical services.  However, their extensive involvement in and promotion of abortion by far overshadows what other services they may provide.  Planned Parenthood harms and destroys more women and families than any other organization in the United States.

A Eugenic Start

Planned Parenthood was founded by Margaret Sanger, a eugenicist who believed in the superiority of the white race.  In 1939, she proposed the “Negro Project”, where she wrote “the most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal.  We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the Minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.”  Sanger established birth control clinics in poor New York City neighborhoods to prey upon “Blacks, Hispanics, Slavs, Amerinds [American Indians], Fundamentalists, Jews and Catholics.”  Sanger’s organization, which started as the “Birth Control League”, was renamed “Planned Parenthood” after World War II in order to distance herself from her earlier Nazi associations.

Monetary Benefits

The abortion business is extremely lucrative.  Planned Parenthood brought in a record $902.8 million in 2005, with $345.1 million dollars coming from health center income.  Planned Parenthood did not disclose how much money was made from abortions.  However, a standard suction and curettage (first-trimester standard procedure) costs about $372.  Therefore, a conservative estimate (since not all abortions are committed during the first trimester and later abortions are much more expensive) would be $98,558,796 in revenue from abortions.  This represents about 28.6% of their total clinic income.

Even worse, Planned Parenthood receives funding through the government—via our tax money.  Over one-third of their income ($305.1 million) came from federal “Government Grants and Contracts;” in Texas, Planned Parenthood receives about $55 million.  Although some of the funds are not allowed to support abortions, each dollar they receive for their other services frees up more money for their abortion business.

• Planned Parenthood increased the numbers of surgical abortions at its own facilities by 4% to 264,943, totaling over 3.75 million abortions since 1970.
• For the 20th year in a row, Planned Parenthood earned a net profit.  This year's $55.8 million brings total profits over the past 19 years to over $650 million.
• Planned Parenthood touts that abortions accounted for only 3% of the total services they provided in 2005.  Although they are clearly trying to downplay the centrality of abortion to their mission, the numbers tell the true story:  abortion accounts for at least 28% of their total clinic income.

Source:  Planned Parenthood Annual Report 2005-2006.