Every year, Glamour Magazine recognizes exceptional women in their annual “Women of the Year” awards. And for 2015, despite the scandal surrounding Planned Parenthood’s selling of baby body parts, Glamour decided to make Planned Parenthood President and CEO Cecile Richards one of their honorees, calling her “The Health Advocate”...
One in five women will use Planned Parenthood services during their lifetime—for sexually transmitted infections, breast and cervical cancer screenings, birth control, emergency contraception, and more. In 2015, controversy around these issues reached fever pitch, and some in Congress called to defund Planned Parenthood—a move that would mean nearly 700,000 people could lose access to their only source of health care. But Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, won’t back down.
Well, of course she won’t back down. Backing down might jeopardize her massive six-figure salary, which nets her a cool half million each year.
In all seriousness, referring to Cecile Richards as “The Health Advocate” is beyond laughable, considering that under Cecile Richards’ leadership, health care at Planned Parenthood has plummeted. Since she took over as CEO in 2006, Planned Parenthood transformed itself into the abortion behemoth that we know today. Cancer screenings and preventive services were cut by more than half. Breast exams and breast health care were slashed, even though Richards herself loves to parrot the lie that Planned Parenthood provides mammograms (hint: they don’t).
Prenatal services, pap smears, and other health care services all dropped. And as such, it’s not surprising to learn that the number of clients seen at Planned Parenthood has declined. Despite that, though, abortion numbers have steadily increased. Planned Parenthood is providing less actual health care, they’re seeing fewer women, yet they’re performing more abortions. That, in and of itself, is extremely telling. For Planned Parenthood and Cecile Richards, abortions have increased while health care has declined.
And while Glamour tries to spin Richards’ work as essential by trying to making it appear that Planned Parenthood serves massive numbers of American women, that isn’t true, either. Defenders of Planned Parenthood claim that American women utterly rely on the abortion giant and that it would be a devastating blow to women’s health if Planned Parenthood was defunded. According to Glamour — and Planned Parenthood — 1 in 5 women depend on Planned Parenthood for health care. But this isn’t true either:
The Guttmacher Institute – Planned Parenthood’s research arm – reports that there are 61 million reproductive-age women in the U.S.
According to Planned Parenthood’s 2013-2014 Annual Report the organization performs:
487,029 Breast exams/Breast care (Note that this is not mammograms.)
378,692 Pap tests
For 61 million women.This means that, in one year, Planned Parenthood provides breast exams to just under 0.8% of the reproductive-age women in the United States.
And the number of pap tests that Planned Parenthood has performed has dropped by roughly 100,000 a year over the past three years.
Planned Parenthood clearly isn’t the stalwart provider of health care that American women rely on. Why would they? Planned Parenthood is far outnumbered by comprehensive health clinics — clinics that provide free or low-cost health care, real health care, to women, and don’t obsess over getting as many abortions as they possibly can.
What’s worse about Glamour’s glowing review of Cecile Richards, and by extension, Planned Parenthood, is that Planned Parenthood is an organization that women cannot trust. Planned Parenthood manipulates women, lies to them, and pressures them into abortions. They routinely break the law, and regularly hide rape, sexual abuse, and sex trafficking — even when the victims are children. And this summer, the Center for Medical Progress exposed another of Planned Parenthood’s crimes: that they violate multiple federal laws by selling the body parts of preborn babies.
This has all happened with Cecile Richards as president and CEO. This is the woman that Glamour Magazine holds up as worthy of not only admiration, but of honor.
