Abortion Business Thriving at Home and Abroad Reports Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s (PPFA) latest report has a disarming picture of smiling babies on the cover — and the jarring reality of aborting those same babies within. For PPFA is the nation’s largest abortion chain, as the organization’s 2002–2003 report makes clear. In 2002, the last year for which numbers are available, PPFA performed 227,375 abortions. This means that about one out of every six abortions in America are performed at a Planned Parenthood clinic.
The organization rakes in some three-quarters of a billion dollars each year, with about a third of this total coming from the U.S. taxpayer. Much of this money comes from Title X, the federal government’s $273 million family planning program. PPFA brags about how it overcame “anti-family planning efforts to cripple the program” and achieved a funding increase of $10 million last year.
How much of Planned Parenthood’s income is derived from abortions? Planned Parenthood does not say. But with first-trimester abortions costing $400, and second-trimester abortions $1,000 or more, the figure is probably around $100 million.
The international arm of PPFA, called Planned Parenthood Federation of America-International (PPFA-I), is busy exporting — what else? — abortion. The report records that PPFA-I’s employees themselves performed “nearly 13,000” abortions overseas in 2003. The organization also pushes manual vacuum aspirators (MVAs) in countries around the world. These are manufactured by another PPFA spin-off — Information Projects Assistance Services (IPAS). Hundreds of so-called “health providers” in places like Myanmar, Cameroon, Kenya, and Sudan have been trained in the use of these hand-held abortion suction machines. Those trained have presumably embarked on new careers as abortionists.
(“Tell Your Story, Change the World,” Planned Parenthood Federation of’ America, 2002–2003 Report)
Aussies Move to Restrict Morning-After Pill
The Australian Medical Association, unlike its American counterpart, is concerned that the morning-after pill is being sold to very young girls. They have asked the Australian Health Minister, Tony Abbott, to tighten access to the controversial drug by making it available only by prescription, The Australian AM A maintains doctors can counsel young girls on issues such as underage sex, contraception and sexually-transmitted infections. Since January 1, Australian women have been able to buy Postinor-2 over the counter from pharmacies without the need to see a doctor, a decision that it now appears Australia will at least partially retreat from. A recent survey showed that two-thirds of doctors oppose making MAP available to young girls. (Cathy O’Leary, “Abbott wants clamp on the morning-after pill,” The West Australian, 8 June 2004, www.thewest.com.au/20040608/news/general/tw-news-general-home-sto126255.html)
Pro-Life Voters
We recently received some disturbing news about pro-lifer voting habits. A group dedicated to electing pro-life candidates cross-checked its mailing list against voter registration rolls. They found that 41.6 percent of their supporters were not registered to vote. Of those registered, almost 20 percent voted only on occasion or never. Only a third always voted.
Voting is the first civic duty. If all who support pro-life organizations registered to vote, and then went to the polls, candidates who reflect their views would stand a better chance of being elected.
More on the Morning-After Abortion Pill
An American Medical Association (AMA) resolution calls on the Food and Drug Administration to allow so-called emergency contraception to be sold over the counter without a doctor’s prescription. “The overwhelming data is that it is safe, effective and usable across age groups,” said Vivian Dickerson, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). In fact, there is almost no data on how these powerful estrogen-based drugs might affect teenagers, as PRI made clear in its recent report, “Under the Table: Why the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Should Not Approve the Over-the-Counter Distribution of Morning-After Pills” (PRI Backgrounder No. 5). Neither the AMA or ACOG admit that MAP is abortifacient, since they pretend that pregnancy begins not at conception but at implantation.
(“AMA opposes stance on morning-after pill,” Associated Press, 15 June 04, www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/thrive/2004/jun/15/061503980.html)
