As several states have acted to remove taxpayer funding from Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in America, the organization and their supporters in both movement and mainstream media have attempted to frame de-funding efforts as attacks on basic healthcare and other services that are not abortion-related.
Live Action was able to expose Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards’ false claim that Planned Parenthood provides mammograms. Pro-lifers have maintained that whatever other services Planned Parenthood may provide, abortion is the blood that keeps Planned Parenthood’s operations pumping. On Friday, writing at Slate, movement media abortion activist Amanda Marcotte admitted just that.
Some commenters in the thread below your post, Jessica, were asking why [Virginia’s abortion clinic regulations] would close the doors of some Planned Parenthood clinics. There are a couple of reasons that would happen in some cases. For one, providing abortions is part of the mission of Planned Parenthood, and they do make it a priority. […]
[…] The other reason I suspect these regulations would harm Planned Parenthood’s ability to keep as many clinics open to offer non-abortion services as they currently do is that a complete shut-down of abortion services would create a cash flow problem for them. Abortions are 3 percent of the actual services Planned Parenthood provides, but they constitute a larger chunk of their income, around 15 percent nationally. Which makes sense; abortions simply cost more than Pap smears and birth control pills, and Planned Parenthood provides a huge chunk of all the abortions in the country, even for women who get their standard gynecological care elsehwere. [sic] The reason for that should be obvious; a lot of women’s regular gynecologists don’t provide abortion, and so if you want an abortion, your doctor is likely to refer you to Planned Parenthood.
Whatever else Planned Parenthood might do, the organization thrives on blood money. Most striking is that in February, Marcotte was parroting the false claims of Planned Parenthood that removing taxpayer-funding of the organization is not about abortion at all:
The cuts to Planned Parenthood are an attack strictly on contraception, cancer and STD screening, and other non-abortion services. But it was clear that anti-choice Republicans thought they could still play the game of calling everything they don’t like “abortion,” and figuring they could get away with it. Even though the cuts had nothing to do with abortion, supporters of the cuts kept yammering on about abortion in the hopes that people wouldn’t notice that they were giving a big kiss to the radical and tiny minority of Americans that oppose contraception.
For those who oppose abortion but have maintained support for Planned Parenthood based on a belief that it is important to keep them in business to provide other services, this should serve as a wake-up call. Abortion is a primary motivator that drives Planned Parenthood.
Live Action president Lila Rose has led the way in trying to get the truth out about Planned Parenthood. She has been attacked for doing so even as the truth is so easily discovered for those who are willing to look for it. While it is sad to see the lies of the pro-abortion industry being perpetuated in the media, we should remember that in order for the world to know the truth, it is sometimes necessary for lies to have their time in the spotlight. Now that the truth is so clear, those who continue to support Planned Parenthood are without excuse.
