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by Dave Bohon
Conservative Christians and pro-life activists may be talking hopefully about a final reversal of Roe v. Wade and an end to its 32-year record of pre-natal carnage. But Planned Parenthood has just celebrated a banner year, boasting nearly 250,000 abortions and $35 million in profits last year. An analysis of Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s 2003-2004 Annual Report by STOPP, a national pro-life organization dedicated to publicizing the deadly record of America’s premier abortion provider, reveals that Planned Parenthood increased the numbers of surgical abortions at its own facilities by over six percent to 244,628. That brings to some 3.5 million abortions that Planned Parenthood has performed since the early 1970s, according to STOPP. Planned Parenthood has long insisted that its main focus is offering counseling and contraceptives to those seeking its services. But its own report dispels that myth, showing that the organization took in an estimated $104 million from its surgical abortion business during the last year, accounting for over one-third of its $302.6 million clinic income. That, of course, does not include its aggressive distribution of the abortion-inducing drug RU-486. During 2002 (the most recent year recorded), Planned Parenthood handed out the drug to more than 95,000 customers at 203 of its offices. Of those facilities, 49 do not perform surgical abortions, but rely instead on the nearly equally effective chemical abortifacient RU-486. Add to this the alarming amount of public funding Planned Parenthood receives for it gruesome business. Even as private donations dropped 17 percent to a paltry $191 million, the agency continues to take a free ride on the government gravy train, augmenting its astounding profits with an equally astounding amount of tax dollars. Planned Parenthood’s 2003-04 report shows a record-breaking $265.2 million in public funding — nearly 33 percent of its $810 million total income. And for the 18th year in a row, Planned Parenthood turned a net profit. This year’s $35.2 million brings its total profits over the 18 years to $538 million. Planned Parenthood is posting such profits and increased public funding even as it has aggressively decreased the number of its clinics nationwide, in an effort to improve its bottom line. Since 1995 the group’s clinics have decreased from 938 to about 850 today, according to STOPP’s executive director Jim Sedlak. “Increases in abortions, more money from taxpayers’ pockets, and bigger profit margins — all while clinics are closing down and donations are dwindling. That is the state of Planned Parenthood,” Sedlak told Cybercast News Service. Tom Prichard of the Minnesota Family Council noted that Planned Parenthood of Minnesota/North Dakota, South Dakota received over $ 4 million in state and federal funding for fiscal year 2003. “One of the most effective things we can do to stop Planned Parenthood’s promotion of abortion in Minnesota is to take away its state funding,” said Prichard. “It is the top abortion promoter in Minnesota, but its efforts don’t stop at its clinics. It also pushes the condom approach to sex education, and its agenda is very much at work in our schools. Our legislators need to be encouraged to stop funding Planned Parenthood’s efforts in our state.” |
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Minnesota Family Council / Minnesota Family Institute 2855 Anthony Lane South, Minneapolis MN, 55418-3265 Phone 612.789.8811, FAX 612.789.8858, www.mfc.org |