A new report from 2nd Vote, which updates its ‘Pro-Life Guide to United Way’ annually, says United Way uses some of its donations to fund abortion provider Planned Parenthood. The conservative organization examined the donations of 1,200 United Way affiliates and found that 62 of them gave $2,756,799 to Planned Parenthood in 2016, the most recent year for which IRS Form 990 data is available. This is an increase of $168,806 from the $2,590,994 United Way sent to Planned Parenthood in 2015. 2nd Vote notes that with the money sent to the abortion corporation, United Way gave Planned Parenthood enough money to fund 2,901 abortions.
2nd Vote says the group’s “affiliates in 29 states” had “financial ties to Planned Parenthood.” The top five states were Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, and Florida.
The group points out that the states where the United Way funds Planned Parenthood are also known as political “battleground” states. 2nd Vote Executive Director Robert Kuykendall notes, “Given Planned Parenthood’s political presence in these states, it is especially concerning that United Way would be a top donor and financial conduit in these areas.”
READ: Pro-life leaders put pressure on United Way to break ties with Planned Parenthood
2nd Vote also notes in its comments about its Planned Parenthood funding guide that “United Way claims neutrality on the Life issue, but many chapters have financially supported Planned Parenthood programs. According to United Way’s own admission, an estimated 5-6% of local chapters donate to the abortion provider.”
The charitable organization defends its giving to Planned Parenthood, and tries to downplay its support for the abortion profiteer by making it sound as if those millions are miniscule. Its statement reads:
All local funding decisions are made by the individual United Ways with the input of local leaders and community stakeholders. United Way Worldwide does not control funding decisions by local United Ways. In many instances, funding for Planned Parenthood is the result of specific direction from individual donors….
Out of 1,129 local United Ways in the United States, only a small number (less than 3 percent) provide direct support to Planned Parenthood. The amount of financial support represents less than one tenth of one percent of total United Way revenue.
Several local United Way partners provide professional family and individual counseling services. Local United Way-funded pregnancy related programs focus on community health maintenance (e.g. communicable disease prevention; medical care service; family planning; health education; public awareness services; and family preservation) and strengthening services like counseling and family life education.
Of course, money is fungible. Any money Planned Parenthood gets for one program simply frees up more of its money for abortion:
2nd Vote uses publicly available data to show where funds are dispersed. In this chart, showing which United Way offices fund Planned Parenthood and for how much, the data is linked to show the source. Some of Planned Parenthood’s most profitable affiliates, such as Planned Parenthood Mar Monte in California, are some of the major recipients of United Way donations. Other Planned Parenthood affiliates receiving funds include some implicated in the Center for Medical Progress’s undercover videos showing the sale of aborted fetal parts.
United Way touts itself as a helping organization, saying it “envisions a world where every individual has an opportunity to succeed, and entire communities thrive as a result.”
Sadly, it is marring its own vision with its millions of dollars of support for an organization that takes away the opportunities of around 900 human beings daily — more than 300,000 babies every single year.
