An astute constituent recently brought to my attention a mistake concerning Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s (PPFA) fiscal year 2009 Internal Revenue Service 990 tax form.

I wrote recently that Planned Parenthood NETTED an income of $106 million in fiscal year 2009. What I should have said was that according to its 990 tax form, PPFA (headquarters) brought in REVENUE of approximately $106 million in fiscal year 2009. Of course, revenue is not profit. The actual amount the organization claimed as profit is $21,773,569, still a hefty chunk of change and well below the estimated $350 million Planned Parenthood gets annually from various federal, state and local taxpayers.

It is critical to understand the larger context of Planned Parenthood’s net profit. The best source for PPFA’s annual profit is the organization’s annual report (here is a link to the latest). You will notice that the data seem somewhat outdated, with June 2008 being the final date listed.

A lot has happened in the U.S. since June 2008, most notably the election of a President who vowed on the campaign trail to do all he could to expand Planned Parenthood’s reach, and has populated his Administration with staff who share that goal.

PPFA’s annual report encompasses information on abortions, adoption referrals, government grants, income, revenue, expenses, contracts, etc. The annual report compiles most data from affiliates around the United States, whereas the IRS 990 form details only a small portion of the Planned Parenthood budget.  For example, in Fiscal year 2008, PPFA’s annual report states that the organization made a profit (“excess of revenue over profits”) of approximately $85 million dollars. However, PPFA’s 990 form for the same year (2008) reads that the profit was only $16,429,108. Why the difference? The 990 form only accounts for a fraction of the entire organization’s budget; the amount noted in the 990 is likely only headquarter costs.

So, the mistaken $106 million figure might not be that different from the profit reported in PPFA’s annual report. But we won’t know for certain until (and if) Planned Parenthood publishes the annual report.

Planned Parenthood typically publishes its annual report in April of each year. Thus far this year, PPFA has not made this information public.  The bigger question is why is it taking so long now that they have so many friends in Washington, D.C.

We at FRC always strive to make sure our information is as accurate as current data allow us to be.  We are grateful to the constituent who contacted FRC about this matter.

At the same time, it is our hope that PPFA will be forthcoming and fully accurate about its financial status.  The taxpayers of our country, who subsidize PPFA to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars annually, deserve no less.

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Today the Department of Health and Human Services announced newly awarded grant recipients for teen pregnancy prevention programs. Although the program will replace abstinence education grants that expire today (the last day of the fiscal year), a number of anti-abstinence groups are among the major recipients. Included in that group is Planned Parenthood, which will receive $4.5 million dollars, specifically in the states of Florida and Washington. For a full list of newly awarded grantees see here.

Let’s look back on some of Planned Parenthood’s written materials on sex education over the last few months:

In January, Planned Parenthood published “Stand and Deliver: Sex, Health and Young People in the 21st Century,” which recommended that children as young as ten should have mandated comprehensive sex education. It also downplayed the role of parents and accused religious groups of “deny[ing young people] the pleasurable and positive aspects of sex.”

In March, Planned Parenthood released a new sex education guide for HIV-positive children, “Happy, Healthy, Hot: A Young Person’s Guide to Their Rights and Living with HIV.” The guide reads, “[T]here are lots of different ways to have sex and lots of different types of sex. There is no right or wrong way to have sex. Just have fun, explore and be yourself!” “Improve your sex life by getting to know your own body. Play with yourself! Talk about or act out your fantasies. Talk dirty to them.” The same report advocated against national laws that HIV- positive people must reveal their status to their sex partner. Such laws, according to Planned Parenthood, “violate the rights of people living with HIV… There are many reasons that people do not share their HIV status. … They may worry that people will find out something else they have kept secret, like they are using injecting drugs, having sex outside of a marriage or having sex with people of the same gender.”

The last group in the world I would want teaching young people about sexuality is Planned Parenthood. Perhaps parents in Washington and Florida will take this issue to their state health departments.

Follow this link for more information on Planned Parenthood.

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Back in March C-FAM broke the news that the Girl Scouts of America (GSA) and their parent organization, World Association of Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), distributed Planned Parenthood sex education brochures — for HIV positive youth — during a meeting for young people at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.  Soon after, C-FAM documented the well-established relationship between the Girl Scouts and Planned Parenthood.

Mariellen Rechtin is a concerned parent and former Girl Scout leader from Ohio who, deeply troubled by the C-FAM reports, began to conduct her own research into the relationship between Planned Parenthood and the Girl Scouts.

Below are clips from Mariellen Rechtin’s research on the Girl Scouts, as well as links to the sources:

Since the 1990’s the Girl Scouts organization (both GSUSA WAGGGS) has migrated in a more radical, feminist, new age direction.  Consider:  1) “God” being made optional in the Oath; 2) various cases of Planned Parenthood invited to do badge work in councils around the U.S. 3) Radical Feminist, pro-abortion, and lesbian speakers such as Charlotte Bunch, Kavita Ramdas, and Dr. Johnetta Cole receiving awards or speaking at conferences 4) the activist involvement by the World Association of Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) at the United Nations.

Most telling about the Girl Scouts position on the issues of sexual education, contraception distribution to adolescents and abortion are the words posted on the WAGGGS website for the Commission on the Status of Women conference.  It states:

“We demand access to comprehensive sexuality information, services and supplies for all young people.  We need it today – and today needed to be yesterday.  The young people from more than 20 countries and every continent collectively demand their sexual and reproductive rights:

• All young people must have access to comprehensive sexuality education and sexual and reproductive health services, including contraception and emergency contraception….
• Accessible, affordable and safe abortion should be made part of the minimum package of sexual and reproductive services.”

When this page is compared to the same coverage of the same day at the conference on International Planned Parenthood Federation’s webpage, one will note that the text and photograph are identical.
In some of its badge requirements, WAGGGS clearly is encouraging a permissive sexuality “protected” by condoms.  Consider the AIDS badge which lists as requirements drawing male and female bodies and identifying the body fluids capable of carrying HIV, visiting a Family Planning Clinic, demonstrate putting a condom on a finger or other suitable device, etc.   An Adolescent Health Badge was developed by WAGGGS and Family Health International as a two year pilot program for eventual availability around the world.
On the GSA website, there is also the “Our Rights, Our Responsibilities” Patch .  Under Section 1, The Right to be Me, there is a link to the UK Children’s Rights Web site which encourages a “Red Ribbon Party” for AIDS.  One of the suggestions for the party is cake sale, and it even encourages the making of a “condom cake” (NOTE: the link worked in April, but was removed a few months later).
A reasonable person could conclude that while WAGGGS/GSUSA may not “force its position” on any individual troop or Girl Scout in the U.S., it has clearly chosen to “take a stance on the issues of sex education, contraception and abortion”.
WAGGGS as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) partnered with the UNFPA, which has a mission to make contraception and abortion available to young people world wide in order to prevent HIV/AIDS and unwanted pregnancy, the goal being to improve health and reduce poverty.
More recently, WAGGS endorsed and helped to develop the Guantajuato Statement (NGO Position Statement) that emerged from the World Conference on Youth, in Mexico City in August, 2010. The statement included the following: (entire document can be found here)
“We demand governments…guarantee the rights of young people including…the right to health, including sexual and reproductive health and rights”
“We commit…to continue working to achieve development through…evidence based comprehensive sexuality education to achieve Millenium Development Goals (MDG) 5 and 6”  Note:  Evidence based comprehensive sexuality education is sex education that understands that there is no such thing as telling a teen not to have sex and then thinking that they are actually going to listen to you.
“We commit…to continue working to achieve development through…Guarantee the full realization of the highest level of physical mental and social health for young people…above all the target lagging farthest behind, MDG 5b – Universal Access to Reproductive Health by 2015”.  Note: MDG5b is all about contraception access for all young people, safe abortion and comprehensive sexuality education.
“We commit…to continue working to achieve development through…Fully recognize young people’s sexual and reproductive rights, particularly the right to choose, through achieving universal access to confidential, youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services including access to evidence-based comprehensive sexuality education, in informal and non-formal settings.  Implement key effective interventions in the continuum of care for maternal health, including access to a full range of contraceptives and safe abortion.” (emphasis mine)
“We commit…to continue working to achieve development through…that Governments recognize LGBT (Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transsexual) as part of the spectrum of gender identities and ensure that young people that identify themselves as such have their Human Rights upheld.”

Mariellen ultimately came to the conclusion that her family could no longer be involved with the Girl Scouts. Moreover, she now believes that some agendas promoted within the GSA are incompatible with a Christian worldview.

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Planned Parenthood still has not released their 2008 annual report, a report typically made public every April. The annual report includes such information as income sources, i.e., the amount of federal and state grant dollars received; private donations, etc.

However, they have released a new fact sheet [PDF] which includes the number of abortions, adoption referrals, etc.

The short story is that abortions are on the rise and adoption referrals are on the decline. The number of abortions in 2008 were 324,008. This is an increase from 2007 when 305,310 abortions were performed. The number of adoption referrals was 2,405 in 2008, a decline from the 4,912 adoption referrals reported for 2007.

For more information on Planned Parenthood, see the following FRC brochure: Planned Parenthood: What Every Parent, Teacher, Woman, Community Leader and Elected Official Needs to Know

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At a June 16 Capitol Hill news conference, Family Research Council joined members of Congress and other pro-life leaders to discuss the Government Accountability Office’s report on federal funding for abortion advocates. The report was requested by Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX) and other key members of Congress. The report revealed that six organizations connected to the abortion agenda received over a billion dollars in federal funds between 2002 and 2009. The organizations included Planned Parenthood Federation of America, International Planned Parenthood Federation and Guttmacher Institute.

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A few months ago, I blogged about a Planned Parenthood affiliate in Iowa administering the dangerous RU-486 abortifacient regime via skype. A local news station in Iowa is now providing more information about this story:

The new telemedicine technique allows a doctor to talk to and dispense the pills to a patient in a remote office location using a camera and microphone connected to the Internet, which allows for two-way communication. Officials said the patient is counseled by on-site staff before connecting to talk to the doctor who is at a different location. After talking to the patient, the doctor can then tap a button on the computer to activate a special drawer at the patient’s location that will open and allow the patient to receive the pills. The patient then takes the first pills while the doctor watches.

To be clear, RU-486 isn’t considered the safest of drugs.

Due to potential adverse reactions (in particular, excessive bleeding to the extent of needing a blood transfusion or incomplete abortions requiring further surgery), RU-486 can only be administered by a physician who can do blood transfusions or surgical abortions should they be required.

By the spring of 2006 six years after RU-486 was made available in the United States, the FDA acknowledged six deaths, nine life-threatening incidents, 232 hospitalizations, 116 blood transfusions, and 88 cases of infections, with a total of 1070 adverse events reports.*

Once again I wonder how Planned Parenthood, an organization that advocates for women’s health, could possibly advocate administering this drug regime with less medical attention and supervision.

*Letter from David W. Boyer, Assistant Commissioner for Legislation, Food and Drug Administration, to the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources (May 2, 2006) (on file with Subcommittee).

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In the first public records marking any fiscal change since the Obama Administration began, Planned Parenthood’s most recent 990 tax forms show a significant increase in revenue during fiscal year 2009, half of which time Obama was in office. In fiscal year 2008, the nonprofit claimed revenue of $85,758,316. In fiscal year 2009, that amount increased to $106,357,796, marking an increase of over twenty million dollars. This was during the same time frame that unemployment rose as high as 9.5%.

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A number of months ago I saw the movie Up In the Air with George Clooney. While the movie successfully relayed deep truths about the inherent relational nature of human beings, in my opinion it did so in a rather dark and somewhat disturbing way. The major character, Ryan Bingham, played by Clooney, had a chosen profession as a “corporate hired gun,” i.e., he was hired to fire people. At one point in the movie, a young college graduate convinced the company CEO that firing could be much cheaper and efficient via computer, rather than the status quo in-person firing meetings. You might guess that the outcome was disastrous, deadly, in fact, with one person jumping from a bridge after being informed by the new college grad she no longer had a job.

Not an organization to shy away from dark deeds or cost savings, Planned Parenthood is taking the deadly fiction from Up In the Air up a notch in real life. The nation’s largest abortion provider is now administering the dangerous medical abortion regime, RU-486, via Skype, instead of in-person consultations with doctors. Follow this link to hear a Planned Parenthood employee describe how the “telemed” process works.

Regarding the safety of RU-486, did you know that by the spring of 2006, six years after the abortifacient was made available in the United States, the FDA acknowledged six deaths, nine life-threatening incidents, 232 hospitalizations, 116 blood transfusions, and 88 cases of infections, with a total of 1070 adverse events reports? [Letter from David W. Boyer, Assistant Commissioner for Legislation, Food and Drug Administration, to Hon. Mark Souder, Chairman, Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources (May 2, 2006) (on file with Subcommittee).]

If Planned Parenthood really cared about the health of their patients, they wouldn’t possibly consider administering a regime as dangerous as RU-486 with less medical attention and supervision. It makes one wonder if Planned Parenthood is more concerned the health of their patients or about monetary gain.

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As rescue workers continue in their efforts to rescue and care for the survivors of the Haiti earthquake — Planned Parenthood is raising money to create more victims.

While Americans have literally given tens of millions of dollars to rescue and aid children and their families in Haiti, the International Planned Parenthood Federation launched a fund-raising appeal within a day of the earthquake seeking funds for their family planning clinics in Haiti.

They certainly know their business and know opportunity when they see it. In the wake of a disaster such as this and hurricanes like Katrina, pregnant mothers who have lost homes, incomes and even family members are in crisis. Planned Parenthood’s solution — charitable giving in the form of “reproductive healthcare” or in plain English, abortions. This is nothing new, after 9/11 they offered women in New York free abortions. Following hurricane Katrina, Planned Parenthood offered free “morning after” pills.

Hopefully, the Haitian people will encounter the charitable hand of Americans through the ministries and organizations that will save lives not take them. I am encouraging people to give to Christian ministries like those listed here and Christian adoption organizations like Bethany Christian Services who will offer real help to the people of Haiti.

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During this moment in history when human beings, trapped under concrete slabs are calling out to be rescued; a day in which people who have miraculously survived the Haiti earthquake do not have enough water to continue living; during a time when the UN and US are sending thousands of security personnel for fear of riots and a “deteriorating security situation,” International Planned Parenthood, the world’s largest abortion provider, is opportunistically responding to this humanitarian crisis by collecting donations for “Sexual & Reproductive Health Services” for the people of Haiti.

Note the following immediate health needs in Haiti, according to the World Health Organization (WHO): search and rescue of survivors trapped underneath rubble; treatment of people with major trauma injuries; preventing the infection of wounds; provision of clean water and sanitation. Somehow “abortion services” did not make the list. Planned Parenthood will objectify and manipulate any person or situation to advance their agenda.

As Haiti begins to recover and grieve one of the most deadly catastrophes ever (possibly 200,000 lives lost), and as the United States approaches the anniversary of Roe v. Wade on January 22 — a moment when 50,000,000 aborted children will be remembered — let us be clear that abortion is not health care. Not here in the United States, and not overseas.

[Editor's Note: Here are some organizations which are offering real help to Haiti]

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Lila Rose of Live Action Films exposes an Alabama Planned Parenthood clinic of “bending the rules” of mandatory reporting for sexual abuse.

Posing as a 14-year old, Rose told a counselor at the Birmingham clinic that she was pregnant by her 31-year old “boyfriend” and needed a secret abortion to avoid her parents finding out about her relationship with an older man. The counselor, then proceeded to tell her that the OB-GYN, Dr. Desiree Bates, “sometimes bends the rules a little bit,” and mentioned that everything will remain confidential.

Bending the rules on sexual abuse…there are laws strictly prohibiting this practice in Alabama (and around the country for that matter). According to Alabama Code 26-14-3, health care professionals are REQUIRED to disclose suspected cases of sexual abuse to state officials immediately. In this case, a 31-year old sleeping with a 14-year old is Statutory Rape, which is sexual abuse.

This Planned Parenthood clinic also violated, yet another obvious law (Alabama Code 26-21-3), in which a parent must sign the consent to allow an abortion for a minor to take place. The counselor informed Rose that a signature from an older sister over 18 would suffice for the parental consent.

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The furor over David Letterman’s outrageously crude comments regarding the 14-year- old daughter of Gov. Sarah Palin being “knocked up” by New York Yankee Alex Rodriquez has quieted down. Governor Palin accepted the apology of the 62-year-old Letterman on behalf of young women like her daughters who want to draw the line, in her words, with “men who ‘joke’ about sexual exploitation of girls.”

After much prodding even the National Organization for Women (NOW), certainly not fans of Sarah Palin, had a statement on this situation. NOW’s website said: “Comedians in search of a laugh should really know better than to snicker about men having sex with teenage girls (or young women) less than half their age.”

Letterman may have dodged a bullet in the Palin incident. However, his lewd sexual comments exposed again the hard, ugly truth that criminal sexual abuse of underage girls by older men is occurring in communities all across America. Adding insult to injury, the abuse is actually being covered up by some who claim to help young women.

Consider the findings of a young student at UCLA, Lila Rose, who did some investigative reporting on Planned Parenthood clinics around the nation. Equipped with a hidden camera and posing as an underage girl impregnated by a much older man, Lila produced videos and audio tapes of her interviews with Planned Parenthood personnel.
Lila’s work exposed sexual abuse, including unreported statutory rape, as well as other blatant violations by Planned Parenthood of state statutes that were intended to protect young girls.

Above is a video of Lila posing as a 13-year-old girl going to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Indianapolis, IN for an abortion because she is pregnant by her 31-year-old boyfriend. The counselor violated Indiana law by not reporting the apparent statutory rape of a minor girl. Further, she went on to coach the young girl on how to conceal an abortion and get around parental consent laws by going to a “surrounding” state for an abortion.

For more examples of criminal violations of law by Planned Parenthood go here.

Sarah Palin was right—sexual exploitation of young girls is no laughing matter. There is nothing funny about it.

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