Planned Parenthood: True or False

Mary Kate Knorr
June 18, 2019

The TRUTH about PLANNED PARENTHOOD

Let’s play a game of true and false…and see if you guessed it right.

  • Abortion is only 3% of what Planned Parenthood does.

FALSE.

Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest abortion provider. Each year, over 300,000 abortions are performed in its clinics – about one third of the national average. Planned Parenthood falsely equates every abortion serviced with every contraceptive, pregnancy test, and pre-abortion counseling session provided. This gives the inaccurate impression that abortion is only 3% of what it does, when in reality, it is its main business and biggest money-maker.

 

  • Over half a billion in taxpayer dollars go to Planned Parenthood every year.

TRUE.

In the 2017-2018 fiscal year, Planned Parenthood received $563.8 million from the federal government. As a matter of fact, Planned Parenthood has received upwards of a half billion in taxpayer dollars, each year, since 2011. From the year 2000 to 2014, government funding for Planned Parenthood jumped about 173%, while abortions increased.

 

  • Planned Parenthood clinics are licensed and inspected.

FALSE.

No Illinois Planned Parenthood facility is licensed. No Illinois Planned Parenthood has received a health and sanitary inspection from the state since 1999.

 

  • Most women do not go to Planned Parenthood.

TRUE.

According to the Guttmacher Institute and data from Planned Parenthood’s annual report, less than 4% of women in the United States go to Planned Parenthood for their services. In Illinois, only about 2.6% of women use Planned Parenthood. 96% of American women and 97% of Illinois women go elsewhere for their health care needs.

 

  • Planned Parenthood provides life-saving mammograms.

FALSE.

Planned Parenthood does NOT provide mammograms. Time and time again, it’s been touted that Planned Parenthood has offered this life-saving service, but they do not. Not one facility has a mammogram machine.

 

  • Planned Parenthood refuses to protect girls from being aborted just because they are girls.

TRUE.

Sex-selective abortion is a problem for countries such as China and Asia, where baby girls are frequently aborted because they are girls. Research has also shown that the practice is prevalent across countries, including the U.S.. Planned Parenthood has actively fought against legislation prohibiting sex-selective abortions, such as the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act. They even penned a letter to lawmakers, indicating they were opposed to banning the practice in the U.S.

 

  • Planned Parenthood offers quality comprehensive healthcare for women.

FALSE.

A quality health care provider would treat the entire woman, not just her reproductive system. There are several hundred alternative health care in Illinois that provide comprehensive reproductive services as well as preventative care and treatment that Planned Parenthood does not, such as mammograms, immunizations, heart screenings, and osteoporosis and diabetes care.

 

  • Women have lots of alternatives.

TRUE.

There are 670 community healthcare clinics in Illinois that serve as alternatives to Illinois Planned Parenthood’s 17 facilities. This means that for every Planned Parenthood facility in the state, there are about 39 other options. Nationwide, there are 13,540 comprehensive health care clinics for women, in comparison to 650 Planned Parenthood facilities. That means there are 20 comprehensive care clinics for every Planned Parenthood facility in the U.S..

 

Sources:

Planned Parenthood Federation of America (2019). 2017-2018 Annual Report. Retrieved from https://www.plannedparenthood.org/uploads/filer_public/4a/0f/4a0f3969-cf71-4ec3-8a90-733c01ee8148/190124-annualreport18-p03.pdf

Planned Parenthood of Illinois (2019). 2017-2018 Annual Report. Retrieved from https://www.plannedparenthood.org/uploads/filer_public/65/98/6598cb38-986b-4001-bc66-9aa0ea27a79c/ppil_2017-2018_annual_report.pdf

Guttmacher Institute (2018, May). State Facts About Abortion: Illinois. Retrieved from https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/state-facts-about-abortion-illinois

Higgins, Anna J.D. (2016, April 13). Sex-Selection Abortion: The Real War on Women. Retrieved from https://lozierinstitute.org/sex-selection-abortion-the-real-war-on-women/#_ftn6

Novielli, Carole (2016, January 4). Analysis: As Government Funding Increases, so does Planned Parenthood’s Share of Abortions. Retrieved from https://www.liveaction.org/news/analysis-government-funding-increases-planned-parenthoods-abortions/

Illinois Right to Life (2017, August 15). Why on Earth would Planned Parenthood Oppose This? Retrieved from http://illinoisrighttolife.org/why-on-earth-would-planned-parenthood-oppose-this/