A new report indicates the Planned Parenthood abortion business is closing centers faster than it can open new ones and the total number of facilities it operates has hit a 25-year low.
The organization STOPP International released the report yesterday showing that, for the fifth straight year, the number of Planned Parenthood centers has declined. In 2010, the Parenthood Federation of America opened 18 new clinics and closed 49, bringing its total clinic number down to 785 – the lowest it has been since 1986.
“Closings were spread all across the country and took place in 20 different states. Only three states (Massachusetts, Utah and Washington) had more clinics in 2010 than they did in 2009,” the report indicated. “Although nine clinics were closed because of the financial failure of Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, the reason given by Planned Parenthood for most clinic closings was a cutback in taxpayer funding or insufficient number of clients.”
The study confirmed Planned Parenthood is increasingly shifting away from performing surgical abortions and, instead, using the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug that has been responsible for killing at least 13 women worldwide (maybe more) and injured 1,100 in the United States alone as of FDA figures from 2006. Planned Parenthood lowered the number of surgical abortion centers by 8, in 2010, but increased its number of facilities pushing the abortion drug by 25.
The abortion business ended the year with a total of 321 abortion facilities with 165 doing surgical abortions and giving out the abortion drug mifepristone, and another 156 dispensing the abortion drug but not doing surgical abortions. This represents an increase of 5.5 percent from the 304 abortion facilities it operated at the end of 2009 and, although Planned Parenthood likes to talk about the low percentage of abortions it does compared to other “services,” more than 40 percent of its centers do some type of abortion.
The STOPP report also indicates Planned Parenthood appears to have abandoned the Express Clinic concept it began in 2003, whereby it would open small storefront operations in smaller cities and rural areas where a freestanding facility would prove too costly to operate. Although some facilities still carry the “Express” name, all have returned to offering the range of services and physical exams as is done at a standard PPFA clinic, the report says.
The report also found Planned Parenthood is apparently trying to show that it operates more centers in order to deflect attention from the fact that taxpayer funds it receives, which are supposedly not for abortions, goes to the same center where abortions are done.
“In performing this survey, we encountered a number of locations where Planned Parenthood claimed more than one clinic at the same physical address. This most frequently happened where PP was making a separation between its abortion business and the rest of its services,” the report said.
The pro-life group put the findings of its report in context in terms of the abortion battle and a look at Planned Parenthood’s strategy.
“The fight against Planned Parenthood can be confusing. Each year we are faced with Planned Parenthood reporting that it attained another record income year and committed a record number of abortions. It operates with millions of dollars of profits each year. All of these are signs that it is a thriving, growing organization,” STOPP said. “Then comes this survey each year and a different picture of Planned Parenthood begins to emerge. Behind all the hype and all of the big income and big profits, it is an organization losing support throughout the country. It is an organization becoming more and more out of touch with the people of America.”
“The Planned Parenthood model of affiliates, each with its own board of directors, was one that kept the PP national office in touch with what was going on locally. The more affiliates, the more boards, the better the input. However, PP has sacrificed that in the name of financial efficiency,’ it said. “At one time (1977), Planned Parenthood had 191 affiliates across the country providing input. Today, it has lost 55 percent of those affiliates and is down to just 86.”
The report also noted the fact that all 86 of those affiliates are facing pressure to do abortions.
“In addition, as was revealed by the Planned Parenthood affiliate in Corpus Christi, Texas, when it disaffiliated from the national office last year, PP is trying to force all of its remaining affiliates into a homogeneous mix – forcing smaller affiliates to merge with larger ones and demanding that every affiliate commit abortions. The message from PP seems clear: The national office knows how to run the organization and the affiliates need to conform or get out. No room for a diversity of opinion from the rank and file,” it said.
The report continued: “Not surprisingly, as the number of affiliates contract, so do the number of clinics that PP operates. The clinics are the lifeblood of the organization. The clinics meet the public directly and carry Planned Parenthood’s programs into the communities. The clinics ensure that Planned Parenthood’s philosophies continue to be expounded to the upcoming generations. But, since 1995, Planned Parenthood has been closing clinics at a breathtaking pace. Although there are some larger cities where PP operates more than one clinic, for the most part, every time Planned Parenthood closes a clinic it moves out of a community. This survey shows that Planned Parenthood has moved out of 153 communities since 1995 – an average of 10 clinics a year, almost one a month. In 2010 alone, it moved out of 31 communities.”
“Despite its growing income and increased emphasis on abortion, Planned Parenthood is losing influence across the country. It is losing that influence because ordinary citizens are rising up to prevent PP from opening new clinics in their towns and working hard to get existing PP clinics out of town,” it concluded.
See the full report at https://www.stopp.org/pdfs/2010%20Survey%20of%20Planned%20Parenthood%20Facilities.pdf
