Abortion study financiers shouldn’t be ‘anonymous,’ so why is this medical journal allowing it?

Live Action News has exposed the fact that abortion pill investors are funding abortion studies which claim medication abortion is safe or should be expanded. Despite these glaring conflicts of interest, media and notable medical journals have failed to hold study authors to account, with some going as far as to allow authors to refrain from listing funding sources, leaving some anonymous. Recently, in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), was a glowing piece  entitled, “Among Women Seeking Abortion, Continuing Pregnancy Linked to Worse Physical Health.” This piece cited several of the studies which chose not to reveal their funding sources.

JAMA author Rita Rubin failed to reveal that funding for the studies (detailed below) came from abortion philanthropists, some of whom are investors in abortion pill manufacturer DANCO, as well as an “anonymous” donor.

These abortion pill investors include:

• The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, which gives millions of dollars to abortion groups like NARAL, Planned Parenthood, and the National Abortion Federation. They fund pro-abortion Gynuity Health Projects, UCSF (known for its abortion training program), and the Guttmacher Institute (Planned Parenthood’s former research arm and “special affiliate”). A stated goal of Hewlett has been “to expand access to abortion.”

• The David and Lucile Packard Foundation‘s previous website made clear their goal is “expanding access to safe abortion.” Today Packard’s website says it exists to “ensure that women receive quality abortion care by supporting advocacy in targeted states and addressing the clinic and provider shortage.” The Foundation is a substantial donor to Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Federation, and NARAL, and is an original investor in the abortion pill manufacturer, DANCO.

• The Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation is also an investor in DANCO (granting $250,000 in 2002, 2004, and annually), which grants large amounts of money to pro-abortion groups. Gerbode has been described by Inside Philanthropy as funding the “next generation of abortion doctors.”

• An anonymous foundation

1) Published in the Annals of Internal Medicine

The study, entitled, “Self-reported Physical Health of Women Who Did and Did Not Terminate Pregnancy After Seeking Abortion Services: A Cohort Study,” was financed by the same four funding sources including the “anonymous foundation,” as previously detailed by Live Action News.

2) Published in Women’s Health Issues

This study entitled, “Side Effects, Physical Health Consequences, and Mortality Associated with Abortion and Birth after an Unwanted Pregnancy,” was also supported by grants from the exact same funding sources, as well as “an anonymous foundation.”

3) Published in JAMA Psychiatry

This study, entitled, “Women’s Mental Health and Well-being 5 Years After Receiving or Being Denied an Abortion. A Prospective, Longitudinal Cohort Study,” was previously documented by Live Action News as having been funded by the exact same funding sources as the others, including “an anonymous foundation.”

4) Published By Bixby

JAMA linked to “Bixby Center data” but failed to point out — as Live Action News has previously documented — that Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health is a taxpayer-funded abortion training program orchestrated out of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Bixby receives funding from a number of organizations collaborating to expand abortion, including two of the funders mentioned above:

• William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• The Fred H. Bixby Foundation
• The David & Lucile Packard Foundation

5) Possible anonymous funding source: Could it be the Buffett Foundation?

Live Action News discovered that authors of the previously mentioned study published by the Annals of Internal Medicine attempted to hide their funding source in a separate study published by the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (JOG), the official publication of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists — popularly known as “The Green Journal.” But, unlike the others, JOG maintained integrity and required the funding source to be made public.

That study, co-authored by Dr. Daniel Grossman, who also co-authored the study published by Annals, entitled, “Medication Abortion Provided Through Telemedicine in Four U.S. States,” was funded by the Susan T. Buffett Foundation (billionaire Warren Buffett’s foundation), which is an abortion investor.

Live Action News has documented several times that the Buffett and Packard Foundations were original investors in the abortion pill manufacturer, DANCO, as were billionaire George Soros (Open Society Foundations) and the California-based Kaiser Family Foundation. Later documents show that The Gerbode Foundation also became an investor. In addition, various authors of the studies mentioned above — unfortunately, including the study from ACOG’s Green Journal (JOG) — were found to be associated with Ibis Reproductive Health, an abortion organization which is directly funded by abortion pill manufacturer, DANCO Laboratories (see image below).

Those study authors associated with Ibis include:

• Caitlin Gerdts (VP of Research)
• Daniel Grossman (Senior Advisor)
• Terri-Ann Thompson (Associate)
• Jane Seymour (Project Manager)

Whether the funding source was an investor of abortion or a known abortion philanthropist, it is obvious that there appears to be a deliberate effort on the part of the media and certain journals to ignore easily discoverable conflicts of interest. Live Action News will continue to look closely at who is funding these studies and who stands to gain from the results.

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