More Abortions, Less Clinics

Planned Parenthood: More Abortions, Fewer Clinics
By Randy Hall
CNSNews.com Editor
January 18, 2005

(CNSNews.com) - The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the
nation's most frequent provider of abortions, is performing more of
the procedures than ever -- albeit in fewer clinics -- and relying
increasingly on the revenue generated from abortions, according to its
Fiscal Year 2004 annual report.

With other services becoming marginalized in Planned Parenthood's
overall business, the organization relied on abortion for 34 percent
of its clinic income from July 1, 2003, to June 30, 2004, up from 32
percent in Fiscal Year 2002 and FY 2003.

After a spike in private contributions two years ago, Planned
Parenthood saw those donations drop 17 percent last year, but U.S.
taxpayer assistance in the form of government grants reached record
levels.

Numerous calls to Planned Parenthood offices in both New York City and
Washington, D.C., seeking comment for this article, were not returned,
but a survey of newspaper stories regarding the closing of 11 of the
organization's clinics during Fiscal Year 2004 revealed a common cause.

'A business decision'

Last fall, the clinic in Tulia, Texas, became the 16th Planned
Parenthood center in the state panhandle to shut its doors during the
past seven years. Only three such facilities remain in the area.

Claudia Stravato, chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of
Amarillo and the Texas Panhandle, said the Tulia facility was closed
due to low patient load and insufficient government funding to
reimburse the organization for its expenses.

"We're basically in survival mode here," Stravato told the Amarillo
Globe-News when the clinic in Pampa was closed down for similar
reasons. "Nobody wants to close clinics and cut services, but we can
only do so much with so little."

The clinic in Cardigan, Ohio, experienced the same fate some months
earlier, when Planned Parenthood of North Central Ohio (PPNCO)
consolidated its services with those offered at the nearby Crawford
County facility.

Cindy Biggs, head of PPNCO, blamed the merger on a decrease in state
funding.

Citing rising costs and declining demand, Planned Parenthood of
Greater Indiana closed clinics in the cities of Martinsville, New
Castle and Salem during December of 2003

"We have to pick the right locations to be in," spokeswoman Theresa
Browning told the Indianapolis Star. "At this time, these three do not
seem to be in the right location, and we need to be responsive to the
community."

No abortions were performed at the three centers, which lost a
combined total of more than $135,000 in the previous 22 months, she said.

"We believe this change is going to be a better investment of our
resources," Browning added, "and will be able to give the clients what
they want and need."

In August of 2003, Planned Parenthood Northern Michigan (PPNM) closed
its clinic in Houghton, Mich., after two years of operation.

"While we recognize the need for affordable family planning services
in the Copper Country," said Scott Blanchard, executive director of
PPNM, "our Houghton center simply hasn't served enough clients to
justify the monthly costs to keep it going."

Closing the facility was a difficult decision, Blanchard noted in a
press release, in part because "those who oppose Planned Parenthood's
presence in Houghton will undoubtedly see this as a victory.

"However, this was strictly a business decision," he said.

Downward trend

These business decisions have resulted in the number of clinics
operated by Planned Parenthood declining from 938 at the
organization's peak in 1995 to about 850 a decade later, according to
Jim Sedlak, executive director of Stop Planned Parenthood (STOPP)
International, a subdivision of the American Life League. Sedlak
analyzed Planned Parenthood's annual reports for the last decade.

"Planned Parenthood insists as a business that every one of its
clinics must make money or get closed down," Sedlak said. "It makes no
difference what the federation as a whole is doing."

Nevertheless, the net loss of almost 90 clinics over the past 10 years
and 17 facilities during the most recent fiscal year suggests that the
public is increasingly steering away from Planned Parenthood offices,
Sedlak said, and is consistent with other information contained in the
annual report.

Planned Parenthood increased the number of abortions at its facilities
by 6.1 percent to 244,628, according to the FY 2004 report, even
though the total number of abortions performed nationwide has been
declining since 1997.

Using an average cost of $400 per abortion, Sedlak estimates that the
organization took in $104 million from surgical abortions -- the first
time this number has surpassed $100 million -- accounting for 34
percent of the organization's $302.6 million clinic income.

While Planned Parenthood increased its numbers of surgical and
chemical abortions, breast exams at its facilities dropped by 13.3
percent. And the organization aborted 138 babies for every adoption
referral to an outside agency, according to data in the report.

The most recent figures available on Planned Parenthood's distribution
of the abortion-inducing drug combination RU-486 are from 2002. During
that year, more than 95,000 customers at 203 offices were given the
RU-486 pills. Forty-nine of those facilities do not perform surgical
abortions, but began handing out the drugs that cause chemical abortions.

Following an aggressive marketing campaign, the organization increased
its distribution of the misnamed "morning-after pill" by 22.2 percent
in FY 2004. While Planned Parenthood sells this drug regimen as an
"Emergency Contraception Kit," the fact that it can be used up to
three days after sexual intercourse to prevent the implantation of a
fertilized embryo in a woman's uterus gives the pro-life community
enough cause to consider the morning-after pill a form of abortion.

Planned Parenthood's sale of the Emergency Contraception Kits has
multiplied more than ten-fold in five years -- from 72,024 in FY 1999
to the 774,482 in FY 2004.

The organization's FY 2004 report also indicates a 2.2 percent
increase in the number of clients receiving contraceptives, or a total
figure of 2,257,154, which does not include the clients receiving
Emergency Contraception Kits. This increase contradicts recent surveys
elsewhere that show the use of pure contraceptives, preventing the
fertilizing of an embryo, to be declining in the United States.

'Money is money'

Planned Parenthood's bottom line is still solid. The organization
posted its 18th straight year of record total income ($810 million)
and ended the period with a net profit of $35.2 million.

"Increases in abortions, more money from taxpayers' pockets and bigger
profit margins -- all while clinics are closing down and donations are
dwindling. That is the state of Planned Parenthood," Sedlak said.

The funding Planned Parenthood receives from government agencies is
particularly troubling to Mark Crutcher, founder and president of the
Texas-based pro-life group, Life Dynamics. "That organization receives
an obscene amount of money in taxes," he said.

Even though government grants are given for specific projects and are
prohibited by law from being used for abortions, that funding still
helps Planned Parenthood in its overall operations, Crutcher said.

"Money is money," he stated. "If you can take in $20 million a year
for advertising, then you don't have to spend your own money on that.
If you're a different clinic and you don't get that funding, then
you've got to find that money to advertise. This arrangement frees up
funds for Planned Parenthood to use for other things, like performing
abortions."

Despite the net loss of centers across the country, Planned Parenthood
opened two new facilities in October: the Tri-Cities Health Center in
Saginaw, Mich., by Planned Parenthood of East Central Michigan; and an
express health center in Clackamas County, Ore., by Planned Parenthood
of Columbia/Williamette.

Planned Parenthood also managed to open a clinic in Hattiesburg,
Miss., but the clinic doesn't perform abortions, and Mississippi's
restrictions on abortion continue to make it one of the least
receptive places in America for the organization.

Mississippi law allows any health-care provider to refuse to perform
any abortion-related procedure, including those emanating from
emergency referrals. Both parents are required to give consent before
a minor can have an abortion, and women seeking the procedure must be
told that it could increase their risk of getting breast cancer.

Abortions in Mississippi reached their peak in 1991, when 8,814 were
reported, according to an Associated Press report. By 2002, the number
had dropped to 3,605, giving the state one of the lowest abortion
rates in the nation, the same report stated.

Mississippi doesn't even have a Planned Parenthood chapter, so the new
clinic in Hattiesburg is being operated by the affiliate from the
neighboring state of Alabama.

"Some Mississippi women drive across the state line to get abortions,
but the poorest of the poor are either having the kids or getting a
back-alley abortion," Larry Rodick, director of Planned Parenthood of
Alabama, told the Associated Press.

In another part of the South, Texas has provided Planned Parenthood
with another challenge -- getting its facilities built.

During construction of a clinic in Austin in late 2003, the general
contractor withdrew because a boycott campaign persuaded most
potential subcontractors to steer clear of the project.

The facility was eventually completed, though the names of the
individuals and businesses that worked on the structure are being kept
confidential.

More recently, plans to expand an abortion clinic in downtown Houston
ran into unexpected problems from a pro-life group in the city. As
previously reported by the Cybercast News Service, the Houston
Coalition for Life learned that Planned Parenthood of Houston and
Southeast Texas was seeking architects for the project.

The Coalition sent more than 1,000 letters, signed by community
leaders, to local construction company officials, asking them to
"please do the right thing by rejecting this job if Planned Parenthood
asks you to participate."

The pro-life group is also listing businesses that participate in the
project on its website.

'Now is the time'

As Planned Parenthood approaches the 32nd anniversary of the Roe v.
Wade decision on Jan. 22, opponents of the organization hope to force
it to make more "business decisions" that will further reduce the
number of clinics -- and abortions -- in its future.

National Right to Life reports that nearly 45 million abortions were
performed in the United States between 1973, when the Supreme Court
legalized the procedure, and the end of 2003. The Alan Guttmacher
Institute, which is the research arm for Planned Parenthood, estimates
that overall in the United States, more than 1.3 million abortions
were performed in 2003. Planned Parenthood's annual report indicates
that the organization's clinics were responsible for nearly 19 percent
of that total.

"The public is increasingly rejecting Planned Parenthood's radical
agenda, but apparently, our elected officials haven't gotten the
message," Sedlak said.

"Now is the time for Americans to expand the growing efforts to close
Planned Parenthood clinics and to put pressure on politicians to stop
the obscene amount of taxpayer money that is being funneled to the
nation's largest abortion chain."