While Planned Parenthood and its political supporters attempt to downplay the number of the organization’s abortions using fuzzy math, even the Washington Post has concluded that “there is no accurate way to measure how much of Planned Parenthood’s activities comprise abortions.”
The Post addressed Planned Parenthood’s claim that abortions comprise only 3 percent of its business, calling it “misleading, comparing abortion services to every other service that it provides. The organization treats each service — pregnancy test, STD test, abortion, birth control — equally. Yet there are obvious differences between a surgical (or even medical) abortion, and offering a urine (or even blood) pregnancy test.” For its dubious claim, Planned Parenthood earned three Pinocchios.
This fuzzy math is actually known as “unbundling.” Basically, the idea is this: a woman comes in for an abortion, but while at Planned Parenthood, she receives a pregnancy test, an STI test, a “consultation” of some sort, an ultrasound, other lab tests, an abortion, birth control pills, etc. That one abortion visit isn’t just counted as an abortion visit; it has now become seven different services — only one of which is the abortion itself. Live Action summarized this scheme in a video published earlier this year.
The steps to dilute the actual abortion numbers are basically as follows:
- Planned Parenthood counts abortions, pregnancy tests, STI tests, contraceptives, and other services as separate and distinct services, regardless of the main reason for the patient’s visit.
- Each column is totaled and then all its “services” are totaled together.
- Planned Parenthood then divides its “abortion” services by its “total” services, and this is how it arrives at the three percent figure.
Planned Parenthood’s own reports state that it committed 328,348 abortions in 2015 alone.
If each abortion procedure visit also included a pregnancy test, Pap test, STI test, etc., you can see just how inflated the overall “services totals” can become. And if the overall “services totals” are inflated, that would automatically dilute their abortion to service percentage.
A video published online by Planned Parenthood states (emphasis added), “Before your abortion, you’ll have an exam and lab test and possibly an ultrasound. And, you’ll meet with a nurse, doctor, or other staff to talk about your options and make sure abortion is the right decision for you.”
This claim about “talk[ing] about your options” was put to the test when Live Action used undercover investigators and found that abortion was the primary “option” that Planned Parenthood offers women.
PP Utah Abortion Consent Form
Planned Parenthood publishes very little regarding what services are included in an abortion. But according to a Utah Planned Parenthood consent form, a woman seeking an abortion also gets the following:
- Pregnancy Test
- Blood Test
- “Other” tests (unknown)
- Ultrasound
- Review
- Pain Meds
The form then makes certain that Planned Parenthood’s abortion patients understand that “[i]n the unlikely event that you need emergency medical care that cannot be provided at Planned Parenthood, you will be responsible for paying for it. This is the case even if Planned Parenthood sends you to a hospital because of a problem.”
In other words, even if Planned Parenthood botches your abortion, you as the patient will be responsible. How comforting.
READ: State, federal statistics reveal that Planned Parenthood is an abortion corporation
A separate information form (also from a Utah Planned Parenthood) is similar, and says the abortion includes:
Planned Parenthood Utah information form
At the same time a woman commits to an abortion at Planned Parenthood, she can also receive contraceptives — which is, of course, another one of those “services” which would be counted separately. “If you’re interested in getting birth control, ask about getting an implant, IUD, shot, or prescription for another kind of birth control while you’re there,” Planned Parenthood states online.
The more “services” obtained in a single abortion visit, the more Planned Parenthood can make it look like abortion was just a tiny fraction of the reason for an abortion patient’s visit.
What is even more magical (and puzzling) about Planned Parenthood’s 3 percent figure is that it never really seems to change! Even though Planned Parenthood’s abortion numbers have increased year after year after year, somehow, thanks to total services reported, that percentage remains the same.
In fact, Planned Parenthood’s abortions have increased 24 percent in the past 10 years (264,943/2005 vs. 328,348/2015) and patient numbers have plummeted (Planned Parenthood has lost approximately 600,000 clients since 2011, according to its own reports) — yet that three percent statistic has never fluctuated. What are the odds?
PP Abortion services totals
If “unbundling” services isn’t deceptive enough, former staffers have accused Planned Parenthood of billing the taxpayer for those same “unbundled” services received by patients during their abortion visits.
State audits show that Planned Parenthood has overbilled taxpayers. Planned Parenthood has also been accused of fraud by Planned Parenthood whistleblowers – here, here and here.
In testimony before a Congressional Committee in 2015, former Planned Parenthood manager Sue Thayer said that because she had access to the entire billing system for her affiliate, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, she discovered that, the organization “would bill Medicaid for abortion-related-services – ultrasounds, office visits, blood tests, medications and other services that were part of an abortion. These type of Medicaid billings for abortion-related services have also been found by government auditors in New York and Washington State.”
Sue Thayer later told Live Action’s president, Lila Rose, that Planned Parenthood had abortion quotas, watch below:
While abortions have declined nationally, Planned Parenthood’s share of the abortion market — currently at almost 35 percent — continues to climb. Planned Parenthood kills an average of nearly 900 preborn babies with abortion daily.
If Planned Parenthood’s fuzzy math has shown us one thing, its that despite government funding nearly doubling between 2005 and 2015 (thanks in part to their political organizer president Cecile Richards), the abortion giant’s excess revenue over expenses (otherwise known as “profit”) is now at a stunning $77.5 million.
Not so fuzzy anymore, is it?
