Planned Parenthood Federation of America, as usual, used the holiday season to quietly release its 2016-2017 annual report. The numbers are being widely reported in the pro-life press. PP had a record annual income of $1.46 billion. It reported a profit of $98.5 million while getting $543.7 million from the American taxpayer. It committed 321,384 medical and surgical abortions (7,000 less than the year before).
All these numbers are important, but there was a significant change in Planned Parenthood’s source of money that we think is the most important of the facts coming from the report. As recently as two years ago, Planned Parenthood had been most reliant on government funding. The actual financial numbers for 2013-2014 were:
Government funding: $528.4 million (43%)
Donations: $391.8 million (32%)
Non-government clinic income: $305.3 million (25%)
The numbers started to change last year and this year a new paradigm took shape. In a very deliberate move to insulate itself from actions of states and Congress, Planned Parenthood put a major effort on decreasing its support on government funds. The latest annual report shows just how far it has come in this regard. The new numbers are:
Government funding: $543.7 million (39%)
Donations: $532.7 million (38%)
Non-government clinic income: $318.1 million (23%)
Do you see what happened? Planned Parenthood has successfully cried wolf loud enough that people all across the country—from Hollywood stars to local folks—are literally throwing money at Planned Parenthood. It’s what the organization wants. Over the last three years, Planned Parenthood has almost tripled its donor list. It went from 584,000 donors in June 2014 to 1,403,000 in June 2017. This was done deliberately by Planned Parenthood to broaden its base and to try to ensure its future.
While government funding of Planned Parenthood is still the largest part of its income and needs to be stopped, the numbers in this year’s annual report show that a government defunding will not be sufficient to close down the organization. We need to stop our friends and neighbors from giving funds to PP.
In 2018, you can expect to see renewed emphasis on educating the general public on the real nature of Planned Parenthood—the organization. Much of the education in recent years has been focused on elected officials with an aim to end government funding. But that effort has dragged on so long that Planned Parenthood has had time to expand its donor base to the point that we expect that its donations in next year’s annual report will surpass its government funding. We must take action, and that action must be in the form of education of the public on the nature of Planned Parenthood.
How many of your friends and neighbors, for example, know that Planned Parenthood is responsible for keeping pornography on the Internet in the United States?
We need to teach that fact and many more. American Life League will lead this effort as the year moves forward.