Fact Checks

New video debunks Planned Parenthood’s 3 percent abortion myth

A new video released by Live Action exposes how Planned Parenthood manipulates its own data to cover up the fact that abortion – not women’s health care – accounts for the lion’s share of the corporation’s services for pregnant women.

Live Action’s motion-graphics video breaks down Planned Parenthood’s self-reported corporate data, revealing how abortion is the core service and chief money-maker for the abortion chain.

Contrary to repeated claims by Planned Parenthood executives, mainstream media, and abortion advocates that abortion only accounts for 3 percent of its services, one in eight Planned Parenthood patients gets an abortion. The corporation commits over 30 percent of the nation’s abortions – over 320,000 abortions every year – or one abortion every 97 seconds.

To arrive at the 3 percent figure, Planned Parenthood divides the number of abortions by the number of services the facilities provide. These services, which include STI testing, pregnancy tests, pap smears, breast exams, birth control, and others, are counted equally with an abortion procedure. So even though abortion is much more profitable for Planned Parenthood, an abortion procedure is calculated as equivalent to a pregnancy test or contraception.

screen-shot-2016-09-07-at-2-46-19-pm

Live Action President Lila Rose called Planned Parenthood’s marketing gimmick a cover-up of its abortion-driven agenda.

“To justify its half billion dollars in taxpayer funding, Planned Parenthood downplays abortion — falsely claiming that it only makes up three percent of its business — and instead plays up its cancer screenings and so-called ‘women’s health care.’  However, Planned Parenthood’s own numbers prove it’s an abortion corporation, focused on abortion, not on women’s health care.  Planned Parenthood doesn’t perform a single mammogram, and it performs less than two percent of all women’s cancer screenings in the United States, yet it commits over 30 percent of America’s abortions.”

Even Slate and the Washington Post, which gave Planned Parenthood “three pinocchios” for this misleading claim, have debunked the abortion giant’s 3 percent myth.

Although the abortion giant claims it is necessary for women’s health, the facts prove quite the contrary. Based on national abortion data, Planned Parenthood performs less than 2 percent of all cancer screenings for women, even less pap tests, and zero mammograms, as detailed in the data below:

  • Planned Parenthood’s U.S. market share for Pap tests is 0.97%.  It performed 271,539 tests in fiscal year 2014-15, out of 28.1 million tests nationwide.  Source.

  • Planned Parenthood’s U.S. market share for clinical breast exams is 1.8%.  It performed 363,803 exams in fiscal year 2014-15, out of 20 million exams nationwide.  Source.  (Note:  These are physical exams, not mammograms.  Planned Parenthood does not perform mammograms.)

  • Planned Parenthood’s U.S. market share for abortions is 30.6%.  It committed 323,999 abortions in fiscal year 2014-15, out of approximately 1.06 million abortions nationwide.  Source.

  • Planned Parenthood aborts 160 children for every one child it refers out for adoption.  Source.

On the other hand, abortion accounts for over 90 percent of Planned Parenthood’s services for pregnant women.

“Planned Parenthood is spending the most it ever has — and double what it spent in 2012 — to influence this year’s election.  Citizens have a right to know the truth behind an organization that has their politicians’ ears,” said Rose. “We are giving activists a powerful new tool to counter one of Planned Parenthood’s biggest lies, and we have the platforms in place to ensure this video is seen by tens of millions of people.”

“The ‘3% Abortion Myth’ video shows voters how Planned Parenthood calculates its absurd three percent number to deliberately mislead the public and downplay its abortion business.  Even the Washington Post and Slate.com have called out the abortion chain for its deception.  Three percent is not a real number, but over 320,000 abortions a year and a 30 percent market share of all U.S. abortions are.

“Planned Parenthood is so focused on abortion that it aborts 160 children for every one child it refers out for adoption.  If a woman with an unwanted pregnancy goes to Planned Parenthood, that child is 160 times more likely to be poisoned or dismembered than to be put up for adoption to a waiting family.”

What is Live Action News?

Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective. Learn More

Contact editor@liveaction.org for questions, corrections, or if you are seeking permission to reprint any Live Action News content.

GUEST ARTICLES: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email editor@liveaction.org with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated. (See here for Open License Agreement.) Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!



To Top