Introduction and Who We Are
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America (formerly the
"Birth Control Federation of America") will mark their 104th year
of operation on October 16, 2021. We thought it was a good time
to take a look at this tax-exempt corporation, the services it provides,
as well as review some of the controversial things that have been
said about them.
A few quick things to mention before we get started.
This website is not associated with or supported financially, in any way, by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), any of its affiliates, or PPFA's Political Action Committee. Likewise, this website is not associated with or supported financially, in any way, by any religious or "conservative" group, or political organization (that may oppose PPFA). We are totally independent of all such influence.
Much of the information represented in this website is from PPFA's annual reports, or subsidies of PPFA, such as the Allan Guttmacher Institute. We also present information from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), United States General Accounting Office (USGAO), US Health and Human Services (HHS), and other sources that we feel are reliable and that can be verified. For many journalists and individuals who have provided information about PPFA that has made it to the pages of this website, it was, at times, a difficult process. Part of that difficultly had to do with the different personal biases and feelings (both positive and negative) they had about PPFA and the issue of abortion.
We believe, based on research, that perhaps most journalists have a bias in favor of abortion "rights," at least publically, so it is easy to understand that they would rather not present abortion, and those organizations that promote access to abortion, in a negative light, especially at a time when some state legislators and congressional representatives have been seeking to defund PPFA, or that by speaking badly about PPFA would hurt their PPFA's efforts to fight legislation that has passed in many states that placed restrictions on access to abortion. For other journalists, their "pro-life" bias' were telling us that we couldn't downplay the significance of the claim from those who oppose abortion who say that abortion takes the life of a innocent living human being, and that government has a responsibility to protect human life.
Note: Before going further, we want to acknowledge that, as it has been accepted by most reputable new organizations, we will refer to those who are on both sides of the abortion issue as being either "pro-choice" or "pro-life." This appears to be well accepted terminology when reporting on this subject.
To get this report right, we knew we had to put aside our own particular biases and to follow this story, as best we could, wherever that took us. In the end, we felt that it was more important to report what we found and to let our readers decide for themselves. For many of you, after reviewing the information presented at this website, your opinions about PPFA may change, as it has for many of us who have come to a better understanding of how PPFA operates and their activities. In preparing this report, we felt that perhaps our best contribution to this "public discussion" is to present our own "conclusions" and possible "call-to-action" which can be found on many of the different pages on this site.
We are extremely grateful to everyone who contributed, and continues to contribute, to this website in any way. Our reporting on PPFA has been broken down into separate tabs/pages, though we realize some of these topics intertwine with each other. We plan to continually add new content to this website, so we encourage you to periodically visit this site. As well, we seek and welcome the submission of informative and thought-provoking articles and information about PPFA, and to make that information available on this site.
PPFA's 2020-21 annual report (the latest year available) said that they saw 2.4 million patients in 2019. The report said those services included such things as 771,571 HIV tests, 265,028 Breast exams, 255,682 PAP tests, and that they diagnosed 240,384 STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections), so it appears that their presence does have an positive impact in many of our communities around the country. If PPFA were to be "defunded," as some legislators have proposed, the question would be if there are enough other clinics that could provide these services?
To be clear, the reason some legislators want to defund PPFA is not because they provide the type of services mentioned above, but rather because PPFA preforms abortions, and is heavily involved, both at the state and national level, in expanding access to abortion, whether that be through crafting legislation to remove restrictions to abortion, state and national litigation efforts in the courts to block restrictions placed on abortion, public relations and marketing campaigns that promote abortion as "health care," or political action efforts (through their political action committee) to promote and elect only "pro-choice" candidates. Others, who may not necessarily be against "sex education" per se, have also voiced their concern about PPFA's sex education practices and the message they convey to our children and teen populations in public schools.
Some legislators also argue that by giving PPFA our tax dollars, even if it is for "services" other than abortion, it affords them the ability to spend more and concentrate more on promoting abortion (current federal law does now allow public funds to be use for abortion, or to go to those organizations that refer or promote abortion). Some investigative organizations have alleged financial fraud by PPFA, and some legislators also believe that some PPFA facilities have been caught routinely violating federal and state laws. These legislators also believe that PPFA has been dishonest in their practices, and because of this, should no longer be trusted with our tax dollars.
PPFA has many dedicated employees and volunteers who work at approximately 600 PPFA facilities around the country who get up every morning with the desire of helping others. What we have discovered though, is that many of those who work, volunteer, or advocate for PPFA, have little idea as to PPFA's origins, corporate ethics, their promotion of abortion through their legislative, litigation and public relations campaign efforts, and facts about abortion itself.
The real problem may be those in the position of authority and leadership at PPFA, and at a few of the larger PPFA facilities around the country, and we are extremely troubled and concerned about their motives, business activities and ethics, and the constant propagation of a false "narrative" concerning abortion and other "services" they provide, as well as the "public image" they try to promote. Others allege that PPFA is strongly biased towards promoting abortion when counseling women who come to their clinics. One or more groups also have produced videos that they say show PPFA's failure to report statutory rape, coerced abortion, and human trafficking, These are all serious alleged charges.
For some, viewing this site may be a "eye-opener." For others, it may be a little more subtle discovery of what you may have already believed, but didn't have the information or documentation needed to support that belief. Regardless of your previous knowledge or understanding of PPFA, we believe that it is important that this website exists as a central location where such information can be gathered and presented.
** ** **
A quick breakdown of the tabs/pages on this website:
LATEST NEWS: We plan to continue adding the latest information we receive pertinent to PPFA and their activities to this page. These stories will eventually be moved to their respective pages on this website. You can receive our free weekly "Latest News" email blasts by signing up (here).
ABORTION: We realize that, for many Americans, abortion has divided this nation, and we understand that individuals on both sides of this issue have very deeply held convictions about whether abortion should remain a constitutional right for a woman who wants one, if restrictions to abortion access should be enacted, or if abortion itself should be outlawed completely. There are many polls that have been taken on this issue, and we know that how the questions are asked has a lot to do with the answers. Some polls show up to a 77% approval for the original 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion, but other polls have shown that up to 57% of Americans see abortion as outright "murder," and an additional 18% that believe that abortion "takes a human life." And though it is true PPFA does abortions, their current 2020 annual report shows that abortion only represents 4% of the services they provide, so it was hard for us to understand, at first, why there was such a big controversy against PPFA about this. We take a quick look at many different ways PPFA is involved with the issue.
SEX EDUCATION: PPFA is the nation's largest provider of sex education in our schools, reaching approximately 1.2 million mostly public, and some private school students (grades 5-12), in person during the 2018-2019 school year. In 1979, PPFA established a national sex education program. Getting our hands on the sex education curriculum and materials that PPFA created and uses is a difficult thing to do. Sometimes only parents are able to do so, and only if demanding that the school provide that information, but the parents must always go to the school to view the content, and can never take a copy of that material home. Otherwise, this information is not readily available for the public to view, but we do show some examples of related materials used.
What many people may not be aware of is that today there are a number of incurable sexually transmitted diseases (STD) that are at, or near, epidemic levels within our youth and teen populations in America. You would think that because of this current situation, it would be all the more reason to have PPFA come into our schools and teach sex education, right? We take a look at the current situation, PPFA's message of what is acceptable sexual behavior for kids and teens, how they use social media to reach our children, and more (here).
PARENTAL RIGHTS: We look at PPFA's position on what rights they believe parents should, or should not have, when it comes to determining what is appropriate for PPFA to tell (and show) children and teens about sex, birth control, abortion, and if and when it is appropriate to be sexually active. We also look at PPFA's position as to whether parents should be notified before PPFA provides their children and teens with birth control devices or medications, or to arrange for their minors to obtain an abortion without parental knowledge or consent. This may be hard to believe, but 21 states currently allow a school district to take a minor off campus, without parental knowledge or consent, to obtain birth control or to have an abortion (whether that be a surgical or chemical "medical" abortion). Read more (here).
HISTORY of PPFA and MARGARET SANGER: We look back how it all began for PPFA, and the controversy surrounding its founder, Margaret Sanger. She is greatly admired by many and is considered the mother of the reproductive rights movement. Her life has left a big influence on many of us, even beyond her efforts to make birth control acceptable and accessible to American women. But there are a few deeply troubling skeletons in Margaret Sanger's closet, that for the most part, the media seems to have ignored in the past, but that is beginning to change. Likely due to the recent "Black Lives Matter" sentiment across the country, PPFA's New York facility announced on July 26, 2020, that they were removing Margaret's Sanger's name from their facility name and building due to Margaret's Sanger's views of African Americas. We explore these things, and more (here).
PUBLIC RELATIONS: We talk a little about the "other" side of PPFA that many may not be aware of. There are actually "two sides" of PPFA, but that we rarely hear about their "other" side. We do hear continuously about their "public" side, how they are always "fighting for their patients," offering birth control, mammograms, cancer screenings, and fighting for "Roe" and reproductive rights. After all, as their slogan says, "Care, no matter the cost," but there is this "other side" of PPFA that you don't hear much about. We look into this more deeply (here).
FRAUD / LAWSUITS: We present a very thorough and detailed report made public by the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Charlotte Lozier Institute organizations. According to the report, there have been at least 51 known external audits or other reviews of Planned Parenthood affiliates’ financial data and practices in 12 states. Even though each audit was very limited in scope in terms of location, time frame, and type of service examined, nearly every audit found over-billing. In total, these audits have uncovered over $8.5 million in waste, abuse, and potential fraud.
In addition to these audits, the report reported that six additional False Claims Act (FCA) Whistle-Blower lawsuits have been filed, mostly from former PPFA employees from around the country, alleging waste, abuse, and potential fraud by PPFA affiliates. One of those lawsuits was dismissed for an undisclosed settlement amount. One other - Reynolds v. Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast – led to an agreement by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast to pay at least $4.3 million to settle claims that the U.S. Department of Justice called Medicaid fraud. Of the remaining four FCA lawsuits, alleged fraudulent billing practices by PPFA affiliates totaling $610 million.
The alleged violations made public in these lawsuits is serious enough that they also come with possible additional FCA fines totaling a staggering $5.5 billion, for falsely and knowingly charging the US government for services PPFA affiliates either did not provide, or for greatly over-charging the government for services they did provide. Read more (here).
UNDERCOVER VIDEOS: We look at those undercover videos that caused a lot of controversy when they came out in 2016 that alleged PPFA was illegally selling human baby parts from aborted babies. Now, approximately five years later, and after the release of a total of 13 videos and extended congressional testimony, we look at what was discovered, if PPFA did anything illegal, and the outcome of those investigative videos. We also look briefly at the ongoing litigation by PPFA and others against those who produced the videos, as well as a recent counter-lawsuit filed June 5, 2020, by the producers of the videos, against PPFA, the Civil Liberties Union, Attorney General XXXXX XXXXX, (then-Senator, now Vice President) Kamala Harris, and others (here).
BIRTH CONTROL. Collectively, as journalists, we take no position on birth control, but as we begin to research the subject, we are beginning to have a unfavorable view of the subject, and even more so against the business practices of the "birth control industry" itself, but not for the reasons you would likely suspect. This page is currently "under construction," but we hope to have this page up in the near future.
RELIGIOUS INFLUENCE: We look at how PPFA views the influence of religion on morals and public conduct, and how "religion" may actually be seen by PPFA as a threat to their programs and policies. (Holy Wars...)
Note: Most individual pages are further broken down into two sections, with the "Latest News" on the left side of the page with the information presented in descending order, and the "Background" on the right side presented in ascending order.
Planned Parenthood's Logo
