A Case to Defund Planned Parenthood

If a picture is worth a thousand words, videos of Planned Parenthood officials talking about the abortion giant’s practice of harvesting baby parts after abortion may be worth more than a half a billion dollars — of taxpayer funding.

That’s about how much Planned Parenthood takes in each year from government sources. (In 2013-2014, it was $528 million.) And the release of the videos raising questions about whether the organization is illegally selling fetal tissue has renewed calls for Congress to defund the nation’s top abortion seller. As a result, legislation to deny Planned Parenthood future federal funding is pending in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

When the House voted to defund Planned Parenthood in 2011, the billion-dollar a year non-profit moved into high gear to defend its taxpayer payroll status. The group went on the offensive with a $200,000 media buy and nationwide bus tour to stop the Senate from following suit. It worked.

In 2015, Planned Parenthood’s response is mostly the same, focusing on its non-abortion activities. No one disputes that offering women pregnancy tests, STI testing and cancer screenings is beneficial. That’s not the problem; it’s giving money to an organization that commits abortions.

The abortion seller’s current defense also tries to change the subject with a new talking point: The value of research using the remains of aborted babies. However, as this research review from the Lozier Institute reveals fetal tissue research is an ineffective and outdated methodology. And Planned Parenthood is not talking about that.

Even if Planned Parenthood is found to be in compliance with federal law, regarding how much it charges to collect and transfer fetal tissue to researchers, the larger question remains: Should taxpayer dollars go to an organization that destroys human life, then callously sorts through baby body parts to hand over to researchers? Should public monies fund a group that continually lobbies in favor of abortion, an activity that brings revenue into its own coffers?

Let’s consider some facts about Planned Parenthood, abortion and money:

• Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest abortion seller, with almost one in three U.S. abortions committed at its facilities.
• More than 1 in 10 Planned Parenthood clients have abortions.
• In fact, the number of Planned Parenthood abortions has risen nearly 30 percent since 2002 ― this during a period of time when the number of abortions nationally has dropped.
• In 2013:
• A pregnant woman going to Planned Parenthood was more than 15 times more likely to abort than receive an adoption referral or prenatal care.
• For every adoption referral that was made, Planned Parenthood performed 174 abortions.
• While the number of abortions performed increased, Planned Parenthood’s adoption referrals fell more than 14 percent.

What’s going on with Planned Parenthood and abortion?

Perhaps it’s money. Planned Parenthood’s annual revenue for abortions in 2013 could be well over $200 million – representing two-thirds of its health center income and nearly one-sixth of its total budget for that year.

Former Planned Parenthood facility director Abby Johnson says of her experience running a Texas center, “Definitely the most lucrative part of their business was abortions.” In her book, Unplanned, Johnson writes that her clinic was one of a few in her affiliate area that committed abortions, “And those abortions earned a lot of money.”

More From Focus on the Family: