Mammogram Falsehoods

Planned Parenthood mammogram claims debunked.

Mammograms are a form of breast cancer screening. A series of undercover phone calls reveals that contrary to the claims of Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards and other supporters, the nation’s largest abortion chain does not provide mammograms for women.

In the tapes, a Live Action investigator calls 30 Planned Parenthood facilities in 27 different states, inquiring about mammograms. Every Planned Parenthood, without exception, tells her she will have to go elsewhere, and many admit that no Planned Parenthood facility provides them.

“We don’t provide those services whatsoever,” admits a staffer at Planned Parenthood of Arizona. Planned Parenthood’s Comprehensive Health Center in Overland Park, KS, explains to the caller, “We actually don’t have a, um, mammogram machine, at our clinics.”

Opponents of defunding Planned Parenthood have argued to Congress and elsewhere that the organization provides vital health care services other than abortion, such as mammograms.  Cecile Richards appeared on The Joy Behar Show to oppose ending Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer subsidies, claiming, “If this bill ever becomes law, millions of women in this country are gonna lose their healthcare access–not to abortion services–to basic family planning, you know, mammograms.”

Former Planned Parenthood Director Abby Johnson notes that Live Action’s recordings demonstrate that Planned Parenthood is not a comprehensive health care provider: “For so long, Planned Parenthood has touted that they are a provider of mammogram services.  This is just one of the lies that Planned Parenthood uses to draw people into their clinics.  Planned Parenthood is not able to provide quality services on their own, so they are forced to lie to the public about services they don’t provide — and mammograms are just one of those services.”